Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1431-1434
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Risk of malignant hyperthermia among patients with neuroleptic malignant syndrome and their families
H Hermesh, D Aizenberg, M Lapidot and H Munitz
Geha Psychiatric Hospital, Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikya, Israel.
The occurrence of malignant hyperthermia in 20 patients who had had
neuroleptic malignant syndrome and in their 108 first-degree relatives was
retrospectively studied. The patients had experienced a total of 20 courses
of ECT and 12 surgical operations in which drugs that can cause malignant
hyperthermia were used, but no cases of malignant hyperthermia had
occurred, and no cases had occurred in the 37 relatives who had undergone
surgery or ECT. The authors conclude that patients who have had malignant
neuroleptic syndrome are not at considerably greater risk than others for
developing malignant hyperthermia during surgery or ECT; the clinical data
suggest that the two disorders are not related.
