title: Stress-induced malignant hyperthermia in a head-injured patient. Case report.
abstract: Susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia is a rare inherited myopathy. Hypermetabolic crises accompanied by a rise in body temperature to as high as 44 degrees C are the hallmark of malignant hyperthermia episodes. These are triggered by inhalational anesthetic agents or depolarizing muscle-relaxant drugs. A similar condition exists in pigs; however, in addition to drug-induced attacks, episodes of malignant hyperthermia occur in these animals as a result of stress. It has been proposed that stress-induced malignant hyperthermia occurs in man. The present paper presents a case of stress-induced malignant hyperthermia in a 21-year-old man in whom the inciting stress was a head injury.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, University of California, School of Medicine, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Feuerman
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Gade
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008305:Malignant Hyperthermia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism