Fatal rhabdomyolysis complicating general anaesthesia in a child with Becker muscular dystrophy.

A 6-yr-old boy who presented with brown urine due to myoglobinuria and who was otherwise virtually asymptomatic was diagnosed as having Becker muscular dystrophy on the basis of a greatly elevated creatine kinase, muscle biopsy, dystrophin analysis, and a deletion of exons 3-7 in the dystrophin gene. Fifteen months later, during a general anaesthetic for dental treatment, he had a cardiac arrest associated with acute rhabdomyolysis, hyperkalaemia and hypocalcaemia. He died 4 days later. This case is reported to highlight this rare but potentially fatal complication of anaesthesia in muscular dystrophy, and to discuss possible ways of preventing such a catastrophe.