| Preoperative evaluation of the patients scheduled for ambulatory surgery is of great importance in regards of both surgery and anesthesia considerations. Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) is a pharmacogenetic clinical syndrome which mostly arises from volatile anesthesia with halothane and the depolarizing muscle relaxant succinylcholine. Clinical manifestations of MH are acidosis and rhabdomyolysis which occur following uncontrolled increases in skeletal muscle metabolism and rapidly increasing body temperature (by as much as 1°C/5 min) (1). Primary cases of MH were reported to be of a 70% mortality rate; however, thanks to the emergence of diagnostic tools such as end-expired carbon dioxide and the administration of dantrolene, this rate has decreased to less than 5%.
MH might occur even in those with no previous or familial history. Even a safe history of the previous surgery under the administration of MH triggering agents cannot guarantee a next safe surgery. A noteworthy point in the preoperative evaluation is the probable association of MH with certain musculoskeletal disorders including Duchenne, Becker, and myotonic muscular dystrophies, strabismus, osteogenesis imperfecta, ptosis, myelomeningocele, kyphoscoliosis, King-Denborough syndrome, periodic paralysis, hernias, marfanoid syndrome, and central core disease (1). These diseases are frequently encountered by dental and facial plastic surgeons and having the knowledge of the probable association between MH and these conditions could aware the dental and facial plastic surgeons and the anesthesiologists to be more vigilant |