Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)
Academic Term
Summer 2020
Document Type
Project
Course Number
NURS 6810
Course Name
Advanced Pathophysiology for the Advanced Practice Nurse
Professor’s Name
Dr. John Chovan & Dr. Susan Butz
Keywords
Malignant Hyperthermia, Anesthesia Reactions, Autosomal Dominant Disorder, Nurse Anesthesia, Hyper Metabolic Disorder, Skeletal Muscle Disorder
Subject Categories
Anesthesiology | Chemical and Pharmacologic Phenomena | Medical Pathology | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing | Perioperative, Operating Room and Surgical Nursing | Surgery
Abstract
Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) is a rare, autosomal dominant skeletal muscle disorder that can have an insidious onset in susceptible patients exposed to the triggering agents succinylcholine, halothane, desflurane, sevoflurane, and isoflurane. MH can occur in patients who have received anesthesia with these agents in the past (Nagelhout & Plaus, 2018, p 775). Patients with a family history of MH or associated skeletal muscle disorder must be treated as MH-susceptible until proven otherwise. Failure to detect an MH crisis can lead to kidney failure, profound acidosis, coagulopathies, rhabdomyolysis, cardiac dysrhythmias, cardiovascular collapse, and death (Seifert et al., 2015). It is the responsibility of the anesthetist to perform an adequate preoperative patient history evaluation to uncover possible MH susceptibility in the surgical patient. Early detection of an MH crisis and treatment with Dantrolene affords the patient with the greatest chance of survival in the intraoperative and postoperative period.
Recommended Citation
Clark, Victor, "Malignant Hyperthermia for the Nurse Anesthetist" (2020). Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN). 437.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_msn/437
Included in
Anesthesiology Commons, Chemical and Pharmacologic Phenomena Commons, Medical Pathology Commons, Perioperative, Operating Room and Surgical Nursing Commons, Surgery Commons