A little over 50 years ago, Denborough and Lovell described the syndrome known today as malignant hyper-thermia (MH). Little was known about this disorder at the time other than it carried a high fatality rate and was characterized by explosive hyperthermia in an otherwise apparently healthy individual undergoing general anesthesia. The unravelling of the principal features of the syndrome involved a combination of astute clinical observations, a fortuitous association with a similar syndrome in pigs, and assiduous laboratory investigations involving contributions from many countries. Seminal contributions to the understanding of MH were made by individuals associated with the University of Toronto, particularly Drs. Beverly Britt, Werner Kalow, Roderick Gordon, David MacLennan, and their many coworkers.
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