Experimental Malignant Hyperthermia

Malignant hyperthermia is a genetic disease that causes an extremely high body temperature. The syndrome is triggered by depolarizing muscle relaxants and halogenated gaseous anesthetics, such as halothane. The purpose of the book is to present the latest experimental work and important conclusions to anesthesiologists, surgeons, certified registered nurse anesthesists, operating nurses, cardiovascular and temperature oriented physiologists, basic research scientists interested in heat production in muscle, animal scientists, primarily swine physiologists, and finally, muscle biology scientists. The results are based on sixteen years of experimental investigations with a malignant hyperthermia susceptible pig colony. Consequently, the data and conclusions are more concrete than the clinical data from human patients. The first five chapters present fresh material relating to the detailed biochemical mechanism of heat production during malignant hyperthermia. Subsequent chapters present recent data on malignant hyperthermia in horses and dogs; these additional animal models provide useful material for future studies of malignant hyperthermia pathophysiology. Later sections summarize the laboratory methods currently used for diagnosing malignant hyperthermia in human patients and present valuable data on malignant hyperthermia in the greater Kansas city area over a twenty year period.