Successful management of malignant hyperpyrexia syndrome in a pediatric patient: What to do when dantrolene is not available?

Abstract

Malignant hyperpyrexia syndrome (MHS) is a rare entity and may not be encountered by the anaesthesiologists throughout their professional career. Whenever it manifests can be a challenging task to manage and prove to be fatal when a timely diagnosis and required therapeutic measures are not taken. Althoughthe dantrolene should be available wherever anaesthesia is practiced, considering the rarity of the syndrome this may not be the scenario always. We are reporting a case of MHS in a pediatric patient to highlight the facts that prompt clinical diagnosis, ongoing supportive treatment, discontinuation of all the anaesthetic agents and and stringent perioperative monitoring along with postoperative oral dantrolene may provide an answer to the MHS crisis in the face of an unavailability of the IV dantrolene; as may be the case in many rural and developing set‑ups.

Keywords: Dantrolene; malignant hyperthermia; oral dantrolene; ryanodine receptor; supportive management