SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Defect Tied to Anesthesia Deaths
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Scientists report they have zeroed in on a genetic defect that appears to underlie life-threatening reactions to anesthesia, findings that may lead to better tests to avert anesthesia-related deaths. Two research teams, working independently, said they have narrowed down the location of the gene for inherited malignant hyperthermia--one of the major causes of death from anesthesia--to chromosome 19.
In two articles published in the journal Nature, one team from Ireland’s University College, Germany’s University of Munich and London’s St. Mary’s Hospital and another group from the University of Toronto said they have found genetic markers that appear linked to malignant hyperthermia susceptibility, or MHS.
