[Malignant hyperthermia of Duchenne muscular dystrophy: application of clinical grading scale and caffeine contracture of skinned muscle fibers].

Episodes of acute myoglobinuria or cardiac arrest were occasionally complicated in general anesthesia of patients with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD). Whether these complications are malignant hyperthermia (MH) or not has several times been discussed. In the present study, we applied the clinical grading scale (CGS) of Larach and modified criteria of caffeine contracture test of the skinned fiber (sIVCT) to solve this problem. When the CGS was applied to reported MH-like episodes of DMD/BMD cases, 9 out of 20 cases were classed as almost certain or very likely MH. According to results of sIVCT in 11 patients with DMD/BMD, 5 patients were judged as MHS (MH-susceptible) and 3 as MHE (MH-equivocal). The diagnostic specificity of present MHS criteria was 100% for the fulminant MH. A possible "false positive" result in European IVCT has been discussed in relation to myopathy such as muscular dystrophy. When we applied our sIVCT to the muscle of mdx mouse, caffeine contracture was rather reduced compared to controls. Present study suggested that a true MH was complicated in some cases of DMD/BMD. In certain stage of muscular degeneration, patients with DMD/BMD become susceptible to MH, probably temporarily, but exact mechanism still awaits clarification.