Movement Disorders Emergencies

The concept of movement disorders emergencies has been introduced to describe all those conditions in which the clinical picture is an acute or subacute evolution of the movement disorder in which a diagnostic delay can cause severe clinical consequences, including death. Both parkinsonian-type hypokinetic disorders and various hyperkinetic forms can, indeed, have an acute onset and present in aggressive form (Fig. 14.1). At the same time, sudden severe complications of chronic diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease or dystonia, may also occur [1].