Movement Disorders in Neurocritical Care

Movement disorder emergencies can occur either de novo or as an acute worsening of a preexisting movement disorder. Movement disorder emergency can have varied manifestations like rigidity, stiffness, dystonia, psychosis, hyperkinetic, or hypokinetic disorders. These usually have a treatable cause. Knowledge of drug interactions and eliciting a detailed drug history is important. Early recognition based on phenomenology and syndromic approach and quick intervention leads to complete recovery with minimal morbidity/mortality. Treatment is a three-pronged approach, viz., patient stabilization and airway protection, treating the movement disorder and associated complications like rhabdomyolysis and hyperthermia, and then treating the disease-specific etiology.