Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:06:16.813Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Although a rare form of ‘lethal’ catatonia, involving high temperature and rigidity, was first described long before the advent of neuroleptic drugs, Delay's description of a syndrome malin in 1960 is usually regarded as the first recognition of this syndrome. Over the next 20 years the number of case reports grew and the appearance of reviews such as Caroff's in 1980 marked the birth of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). Reports of its incidence give variation rates of up to fiftyfold, possibly due to differences in diagnostic criteria, and mortality reports are similarly variable. Although it is debatable whether it is a rare, severe idiosyncrasy or one of many neuromuscular side-effects of dopamine antagonists (Levinson & Simpson, 1986), most clinicians nowadays regard it as a serious but recognisable risk of neuroleptic treatment which merits further attention.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1996 

References

Addonizio, G., Susman, V. & Roth, S. D. (1986) Symptoms of neuroleptic malignant syndrome in 82 consecutive inpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 15871590.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Ames, D. & Wirshing, W. C. (1993) MDMA, serotonin syndrome and neuroleptic malignant syndrome – a possible link? Journal of the American Medical Association, 269, 869.Google Scholar
Cape, G. (1994) The neuroleptic malignant syndrome – a cautionary tale and a surprising outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 120123.Google Scholar
Caroff, S. N. (1980) The neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 41, 7983.Google Scholar
Caroff, S. N. & Mann, S. C. (1993) The neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Medical Clinics of North America, 77, 185202.Google Scholar
Deng, M. Z., Chen, G. Q. & Phillips, M. R. (1990) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome in 12 out of 9792 Chinese inpatients exposed to neuroleptics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 11491155.Google Scholar
Gelenberg, A. J., Bellinghausen, B., Wocjik, J. D. et al (1991) A prospective study of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 517518.Google Scholar
Gratz, S. S., Levinson, D. & Simpson, G. (1992) The treatment and management of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Progress in Neuropharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 16, 425443.Google Scholar
Guerrera, R. J., Chang, S. S. & Romero, J. A. (1992) A comparison of diagnostic criteria for neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 53, 5662.Google Scholar
Hermesh, H., Aizenberg, D., Weizman, A. et al (1992) Risk for definite neuroleptic malignant syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 254257.Google Scholar
Keck, P., Pope, H., Cohen, B. M. et al (1989) Risk factors for neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 914918.Google Scholar
Keck, P. & McElroy, S. L. (1991) Declining frequency of neuroleptic malignant syndrome in a hospital population. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 880882.Google Scholar
Levinson, D. F. & Simpson, G. M. (1986) Neuroleptic induced extrapyramidal symptoms with fever. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 839848.Google Scholar
Modestin, J., Toffler, G. & Drescher, J. (1992) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: results of a prospective study. Psychiatry Research, 44, 251256.Google Scholar
Naganuma, H. & Fuji, I. (1994) Incidence and risk factors for neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 90, 424426.Google Scholar
O'Dwyer, A-M. & Sheppard, N. (1993) The role of creatine kinase in the diagnosis of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Psychological Medicine, 23, 323326.Google Scholar
Osman, A. A. & Khurasani, M. (1994) Lethal catatonia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome – a dopamine receptor shutdown hypothesis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 548550.Google Scholar
Raja, M., Altavista, M., Cavallari, S. et al (1994) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome and catatonia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 243, 299303.Google Scholar
Rosebush, P. & Stewart, T. (1989) A prospective analysis of 24 episodes of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 717725.Google Scholar
Rosebush, P., Stewart, T. & Gelenberg, L. (1989) Twenty neuroleptic rechallenges after fifteen cases of NMS. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 50, 295298.Google Scholar
Rosebush, P. & Mazurek, I. (1991) Serum iron and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Lancet, 338, 149151.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. R. & Green, M. (1989) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Archives of Internal Medicine, 149, 19271931.Google Scholar
Sewell, D. & Jeste, D. (1992) Distinguishing NMS from NMS like acute medical illnesses. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 4, 265269.Google Scholar
Thornberg, S. & Ereshefsky, L. (1993) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome associated with clozapine monotherapy. Pharmacotherapy, 13, 510513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Velamoor, V., Norman, R. M. G., Caroff, S.N. et al (1994) Progression of symptoms in neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 182, 168173.Google Scholar
White, D. A. C. (1992) Catatonia and the neuroleptic malignant syndrome – a single entity? British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 558560.Google Scholar
White, D. A. C. & Robins, A. H. (1991) Catatonia – harbinger of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 419421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.