Tardive dyskinesia with low-dose, short-term neuroleptic therapy

The development, treatment, and outcome of a case of tardive dyskinesia following short-term, low-dose neuroleptic therapy is described. Thirty weeks of treatment with haloperidol, in doses never exceeding 10 mg daily, produced tardive dyskinesia symptomatology. Upon discontinuing haloperidol, the symptoms decreased significantly in severity within the first four weeks and disappeared completely within 12.5 weeks. This case is compared with the classical description of tardive dyskinesia symptomatology, etiology, response to treatment and degree of reversibility. Atypical features are explained and clinical implications of the case are offered.