Malignant hyperthermia, a rare perioperative complication: case series and literature review.

Malignant hyperthermia is a rare complication of general anesthesia appearing as an acute and potentially lethal hypermetabolic state in people carrying a genetic anomaly expressed in skeletal muscles. Malignant hyperthermia has been scarcely described in sub-Saharan Africa. Herein, we present three cases of malignant hyperthermia occurring in the perioperative period in Cameroon. The authors wish to draw attention to the clinical presentation of this rare but potentially lethal emergency, for timely diagnosis, management and follow-up geared at preventing perioperative mortality.

Simple Mortality Predictive Models for Improving Critical Care in Resource-Limited Settings: An Insight on the Modified Early Warning Score and Rapid Emergency Medical Score.

Mortality rate among critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit is high, particularly in low-income countries (LIC). Many scores have been developed to predict these fatal outcomes. In LIC, the applicability of scoring systems is precluded by the unavailability of resources to compile all the parameters of these scores. Herein, we highlight the advantages of two models: the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) and the Rapid Emergency Medical Score (REMS). The REMS and the MEWS have the advantage of being accurate, simple, inexpensive, and practical for LIC.