What are the three forms of MSA?
Symptoms of MSA vary in distribution, onset and severity from person to person. Because of this, three different diseases were initially described to encompass this range of symptoms: Shy-Drager syndrome, striatonigral degeneration, and olivopontocerebellar atrophy. The reason there are 3 forms is that years ago all doctors had to go on were symptoms. If a patient had loss of balance (ataxia) and slurred speech then they knew the patient had nerve degeneration in the cerebellum, olives and pons (areas of the brain). They called this Olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA). If a patient had low blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension) they knew that the patient had nerve degeneration in the autonomic nervous system. This form is named Shy-Drager Syndrome (SDS) for Dr. Milton Shy and Dr. Glen Drager who first wrote about this disorder in 1960. If a patient had tremors, slowness of movement and other Parkinson-like symptoms they knew that the patient had nerve degeneration in the striatonigra
