Anesthetic Management of an Adult With Hyperekplexia Undergoing a Laparoscopic Colectomy: A Case Report.

Hyperekplexia is a rare genetic disorder characterized by an exaggerated startle response to innocuous stimuli. There are several case reports documenting the administration of general anesthesia to infants and children with hyperekplexia and 1 case report documenting the use of a labor epidural in a parturient. These cases suggest a possible resistance to depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents and increased risk of malignant hyperthermia. There are no case reports of adults with hyperekplexia receiving general anesthesia. We report the case of a 20-year-old woman with hyperekplexia who safely received general anesthesia without neuromuscular blockade for a laparoscopic colectomy.