Peripheral neuropathy as a component of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

The neuroleptic malignant syndrome, an idiosyncratic reaction to antipsychotic medication, is defined by the tetrad of autonomic dysfunction, rigidity, fever, and altered mental status. Two patients in whom this syndrome developed acquired severe peripheral neuropathies during the course of their illness. This demyelinative polyneuropathy has not been reported previously as occurring in the neuroleptic malignant syndrome.