neuroleptic malignant syndrome
a rare complication of therapy with conventional (typical or first-generation) antipsychotics, characterized by fever, inability to regulate blood pressure, difficulty in breathing, and changes in consciousness (including coma); mortality rates approaching 25% have been observed. It occurs primarily at the start of treatment or with a sudden increase in dose. The incidence of the syndrome, which was never high, has declined further with the abandonment of megadose pharmacotherapy with conventional antipsychotics and the advent of second-generation atypical antipsychotics.