Two Cases of Remote Testing for Malignant Hyperthermia

A 20-year-old man in Sapporo and a 10-year-old boy in Hiroshima were tested for malignant hyperthermia. Both of who were away from the laboratories of Shiga University of Medical Science in which the in vitro caffeine halothane contracture test (CHCT) and Hiroshima University Hospital in which the calcium-induced calcium release rate test (CICR) were done. Because of the viability of an excised specimen, CHCT was recommended to be performed within 5 hr and CICR within 48 hr after muscle biopsy. Therefore, we planned to move the CHCT laboratory close to the patients. All equipments of the CHCT test were transferred to a laboratory in Medical University close to a hospital in which the patients could be administered. Muscle specimens treated with special solution were transported to the laboratory of the CICR test by commercial shipping service. We successfully made the malignant hyperthermia susceptibility diagnosis of the two patients. We believe this is the first case reports in Japan that the patients were not able to travel to the laboratories where the tests were done.