Anesthesia and analgesia
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · May 1997
Malignant hyperthermia testing in patients with persistently increased serum creatine kinase levels.
We describe 49 neurologically asymptomatic patients with persistently increased serum creatine kinase (CK) levels (idiopathic hyperCKemia or IHCK) who were referred to our institution for diagnostic muscle biopsy, including malignant hyperthermia (MH) susceptibility testing between 1979 and 1993. Muscle biopsy samples of the vastus lateralis were obtained for histologic analysis and MH contracture testing with halothane and caffeine. From 1979 to November 1987, patients were tested for MH in accordance with a standardized institutional protocol. ⋯ Twenty-four of the 49 IHCK patients (49%) had positive contracture tests. No significant correlation was found between the magnitude of CK increase and the incidence of MHS or histologic abnormalities. Unexplained persistently increased CK levels in an otherwise healthy patient should alert the anesthesiologist to the possibility of MHS and/or myopathy.
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · May 1997
Biography Historical ArticleThe World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists: McMechan's final legacy?