Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common childhood muscular dystrophy that anesthesiologists can encounter in the operation room, and patients with DMD are susceptible to complications such as rhabdomyolysis, hyperkalemic cardiac arrest, and hyperthermia during the perioperative period. Acute onset of hyperkalemic cardiac arrest is a crisis because of the difficulty in achieving satisfactory resuscitation owing to the sustained hyperkalemia accompanied by rhabdomyolysis.
Case: We here report a case of a 13-year-old boy who had multiple leg fractures and other trauma after a car accident and who had suffered from acute hyperkalemic cardiac arrest. He was refractory to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and showed sustained hyperkalemia. With extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and in-line hemofiltration, he recovered from repeated cardiac arrest and hyperkalemia.
Conclusions: Combining ECMO and in-line hemofiltration might be a safe and effective technique for refractory hyperkalemic cardiac arrest and rhabdomyolysis in patients with DMD.
Keywords: Cardiac arrest; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Duchenne muscular dystrophy; Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; Hemofiltration; Hyperkalemia; Rhabdomyolysis.