SummaryHallervorden-Spatz disease is a rare autosomal recessive disorder in which dopaminergic deficiency in the substantia nigra and its nigrostriatal projection has been identiJied. It is characterised by a slow but progressive course culminating in death. This case report describes a 13-year-old male, with a clinical diagnosis of Hallervorden-Spatz disease, who developed recurrent episodes of an acute illness, the .features of which closely resembled those of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome. However, in this patient there had been no exposure to neuroleptic medication. The clinical events in this case suggest that dopaminergic hypoactivity. which is characteristic of Hallervorden-Spatz disease, can trigger episodes of neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
Key wordsComplications; Hallervorden-Spatz disease, basal ganglia disease, neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
Although the pathogenesis of the neuroleptic malignantCase history syndrome (NMS) has not yet been completely elucidated, typical NMS episodes are associated with the consumption of antipsychotic drugs which block postsynaptic dopaminergic receptors in the hypothalmic thermoregulatory centre. Hallervorden-Spatz disease, a condition which is characterised by dopaminergic deficiency in the substantia nigra and its nigrostriatal projection, has never been assumed to have any relationship to NMS, and there are no reports of physiological phenomena that would link the two conditions. In this report, we describe our experiences of a patient with Hallervorden-Spatz disease who was subject to episodes of hyperthermia, muscle rigidity and rhabdomyolysis, features which are characteristic of NMS, thus suggesting a common aetiology. A recent case report of NMS following L-dopa withdrawal in a patient with striatonigral degeneration has led to the suggestion that the dopaminergic neurones of the substantia nigra and striatum play a rBle in the thermoregulatory disturbances of NMS [I]. The author postulated that central dopaminergic mechanisms in the striatum rather than the hypothalamus caused the severe muscle rigidity which resulted in peripheral heat production and hyperthermia. In the light of our case, we tentatively suggest that episodes of hyperth-The patient was a 13-year-old boy with mental retardation, who was diagnosed, on both clinical features and chromosomal examination, as having Down's syndrome. His family history was unremarkable. He had been well until the age of 12 years, when he was noticed to have rigidity of the left upper and lower extremities. After gradual progression of the bradykinesia and cogwheel-like rigidity, his ermia should be considered to be a feature of Fig. 1. Brain CT scan: calcification in the nuclei of the basal Hallervorden-Spatz disease.ganglia.