A case of acute renal failure in neuroleptic malignant syndrome associated with rhabdomyolysis -Possible contributing role of hyperreninemia

A schizophrenic woman, aged 45, was admitted complaining of high fever, oliguria, blackish urine, muscle swelling and pain. She had been treated for the past 3 years with haloperidol (8 mg), levomepromazine (150 mg), chlorpromazine (75 mg), lithium carbonate (600 mg), bromocriptine mesilate (7.5 mg), etizolam (1 mg), and flunitrazepam (2 mg), Physical examination revealed her to be an obese and uncommunicatable woman with swelling and weakness of the extremities and abdominal distension without borborygmus. Urine was dark brown and (+) for protein and occult blood. Blood chemistry analysis revealed BUN 71 mg/dl, creatinine 6.8 mg/dl, CPK 143, 850 IU and myoglobin 3, 980 ng/ml. PRA on the 11th hospital day was 96 ng/ml/hour. This patient fulfilled the Levenson's diagnostic criteria for manifestations of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). High PRA did not decrease after cessation of the diuretics. After treatment with dantrolene sodium and 10 treatments with hemodialysis, azotemia disappeared with the start of diuresis. The PRA also decreased to the normal level. Characteristic acceleration of the central sympathetic stimuli in NMS seemed to have induced hyperreninemia, which together with rhabdomyolysis, might have contributed to the development of acute renal failure.