Burkitt's lymphoma: tumor lysis following malignant hyperthermia

An adult patient with massive abdominal Burkitt's lymphoma developed malignant hyperthermia during exploratory laparotomy. Simultaneously, evidence of tumor lysis appeared. The lethal effect of heat on cancer cells has been amply demonstrated experimentally, and clinical trials of regional and whole-body hyperthermia in various human malignancies have appeared. Lymphomas have not been reported among those tumors studied. Burkitt's lymphoma, a rapidly growing tumor, is likely to respond to hyperthermia, and the evidence reported here should be pursued with controlled clinical trials involving induced hyperthermia in refractory malignant lymphomas.