What about temperature? Haloperidol-induced hypotermia.
The use of treatment with antipsychotic drugs highlights the difficulty of finding the right balance between the benefit on psychotic symptoms and the risk of the occurrence of adverse reactions. There is a strong genetic and pharmacological evidence supporting the hypothesis that activation of D2 receptors could lead to hypothermia and that the treatment haloperidol is capable of inducing hypothermia apomorfino similarily in laboratory animals. It also seems that, haloperidol is not the only antipsychotic able to determine this type of reaction, as some evidence suggests that other drugs such as reserpine, chlorpromazine would be capable of inducing hypothermia. Finally, while some studies suggest the possible occurrence of haloperidol-induced hypothermia only in laboratory animals, other authors argue that this same reaction can occur in humans as well. In this report, we describe the cases, rarely witnessed in the literature, of three patients in whom the administration of haloperidol caused hypothermia.
Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Maria Salvina
MS
Signorelli
Federico
F
Nalis
Mariacatena
M
Battiato
Eugenio
E
Aguglia
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006220:Haloperidol / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D055815:Young Adult
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D006220:Haloperidol