# Research hotspots and trends in malignant hyperthermia due to anesthesia from a global perspective: a bibliometric analysis from 1975 to 2024

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes global research trends on malignant hyperthermia from 1975 to 2024, highlighting disparities in research output and access to treatment in different economies.

## Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of malignant hyperthermia research, revealing global trends and disparities in research focus and drug accessibility.

## Key findings

- Advanced economies dominate MH research, contributing 87.78% of publications.
- Emerging and developing economies have increased MH research since 2010, focusing on diagnosis and dantrolene.
- Dantrolene availability and international cooperation are critical for reducing MH mortality in developing countries.

## Abstract

Malignant hyperthermia is a rare and highly lethal anesthesia emergency. We summarized the published articles on malignant hyperthermia to understand its development trends and provided meaningful recommendations for reducing the mortality rate.

The Web of Science core, PubMed Central and Scopus databases were searched from 1975 to 2024 to identify articles related to malignant hyperthermia. The retrieved documents were exported as full-text records via CiteSpace 6.4. R1 and R (BiblioShiny packages) were used to measure and visually analyze the number of articles, journals, keywords, and references.

According to the bibliometric analysis, 1473 publications were published by research teams across 60 countries and regions. In 1473 publications, advanced economies accounted for 87.78% (n = 1303), while emerging and developing economies accounted for 12.22% (n = 170). In the past 40 years, advanced economies have dominated the field of MH research. The research on MH in emerging and developing economies have been rapidly increasing since 2010. Emerging and developing economies were paying more attention to MH diagnosis and the specific drug dantrolene. The most prolific country was the United States (n = 439, centrality = 0.55). The University of California System (n = 44, centrality = 0.04) had the highest number of articles. The journal ANESTHESIOLOGY was cocited 731 times and had the highest number of cocitations. From the timeline of keyword appearance, attention was devoted to dantrolene and succinylcholine in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, more research has focused on MH susceptibility and ryanodine receptors. Recently, amide anesthetics and spinal anesthesia-induced MH have received more attention.

We revealed the evolutionary path of MH research through bibliometric analysis. Owing to the lack of dantrolene and cooperation mechanisms in developing countries, the mortality rate caused by MH is still high. The government and pharmaceutical companies should collaborate to assist the availability and accessibility of dantrolene in developing countries.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13023-025-03766-5.