Abstract: Malignant hyperthermia (MH) was firstly discovered and described in 1960 by Denborough and Lovell in Australia. This was a rare and potentially lethal skeletal muscle hypermetabolic response disease, recognized as an autosomal dominant inheritance. This disease was usually caused by volatile anesthetics or depolarizing muscle relaxants. Moreover, it could also be triggered by other factors, such as strenuous exercise and emotional stress. Studies have shown that MH patients could have mutations in RYR1, CACNA1S, STAC3, and other gene mutations, among which the RYR1 gene mutations occupied the major proportion and male patients were more than female patients. The main clinical manifestations of MH were masseter muscle spasm, elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide at the end of the breath, and a rapid and continuous rise of body temperature. In the stomatology, MH should be considered sooner if symptoms such as masseter muscle spasm occurred. Therefore, it is important for dentist to improve the ability to diagnose and treat MH. The incidence of MH is increasing steadily in recent years in China and the specific drug Dansalin is still difficult to obtain. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a series of effective treatment measures and standards. In this review, the latest research progress of MH is introduced and summarized.

Key words: malignant hyperthermia, gene mutations, incidence rate, diagnostic and therapeutic criteria