Malignant hyperthermia: advances in diagnostics and management.

Real-time monitoring of end-tidal carbon dioxide during anaesthesia aids in the early detection of malignant hyperthermia and the occurrence of a rapid increase in end-tidal carbon dioxide, associated with unexplained persistent tachycardia, well before the core temperature begins to rise. Should malignant hyperthermia occur, however, dantrolene permits the dependable reversal of skeletal muscle hypermetabolism.