family experience with it directly, you probably don't know about MH.
Like MHAUS, I'm doing my best to spread public awareness of MH.
I appeared in local media last year, telling my story and explaining
what MH is to readers and viewers in my area and — through the
internet — around the world.
From biopsy to blood
The current difficulty of testing everyone for MH susceptibility is frus-
trating. Obviously, a large biopsy is invasive — not something you
really want to do with everyone. But right now that's the only reliable
test for the condition — the gold standard. In most cases, we're sim-
ply relying on anecdotal information without the biopsy.
My hope is that someday, we can screen all patients accurately for
MH before surgery via a blood test. Some blood tests today can identi-
fy certain genetic mutations that indicate MH susceptibility, but
they're not yet reliable enough to spot all of the mutations.
There's still so much we don't know about MH. For example, studies
say 1 in 2,000, or 1 in 3,000, people have a genetic mutation that
makes them MH-susceptible. So why don't more surgeries result in
MH episodes? Why can the same person have 4 surgeries under gener-
7 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 9
inhalation agent to an MH-susceptible patient.
• Consult MHAUS. A representative from the Malignant
Hyperthermia Association of the United States (mhaus.org) eval-
uated us in person, which was extremely useful. They tell you if
you did a good job, need to change or add something, or make
something clearer. MHAUS has great education materials you
can use, too.
— Marsha Thornhill, MD
Dr. Thornhill (thorns70@aol.com) is director of anesthesia at Teaneck
(N.J.) Surgical Center.
