Di Rosa A E, Morgante L, Coraci M A, Crisafulli A, Cacciola G, Di Stefano G, Meduri M, Di Perri R
First Clinical Neurology, University of Messina, Italy.
Funct Neurol. 1988 Apr-Jun;3(2):211-5.
The clinical cases described are characterized by rigidity, mutism and hyperthermia, with cutaneous pallor and diaphoresis. This symptomatology marks the "malignant neuroleptic syndrome" and can be found, at times, in parkinsonians on "drug holiday". The cases described, which comprehend patients with both disorders, lead us to a single pathogenetic hypothesis: a central dopaminergic impairment. Hyperthermia, secondary to functional hypothalamic deficiency, is maintained by defective heat dispersion due to the lack of cutaneous vasodilation.
