Stress-induced malignant hyperthermia in a head-injured patient. Case report.

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.