Patients with neuroleptic malignant syndrome histories: what happens when they are rehospitalized?

Among approximately 1450 patients treated with neuroleptics in a short-term psychiatric hospital, there were no cases of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). Six patients with histories of NMS were treated, either with nonneuroleptic therapies or with low doses of low-potency antipsychotic agents. No case of NMS developed, but one patient suffered transient subsyndromal signs while treated briefly with loxapine. Staff education, screening for patients with history of NMS, and detection of early signs can lower the incidence of this serious drug toxicity.