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These questions came from two separate lists yesterday: >Dear Barbara, >I have a friend whose husband has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease >and has also developed Shy Drager Syndrome. Would you have any up to >date information on this subject. >Trudy Mackrory. >I know you are busy, but what is Shy-Dreger syndrome... Here is probably the most concise (medical) description I've come across: "Shy-Drager syndrome is an illness presenting with features of autonomic dysfunction including impotence, incontinence, and orthostatic hypotension. Anhidrosis, iris atrophy, and decreased tearing may also occur. Several years after onset of the autonomic dysfunction, an akinetic rigid form of parkinsonian syndrome develops. In some patients there may be associated cere bellar, upper motor neuron, and/or lower motor neuron findings. Dementia rarely occurs. Pathologic examination reveals cell loss and gliosis in the pigmented brainstem nuclei, striatum, pontine structures, and the intermediola teral cell column of the spinal cord. (4 references given.)" [From: Dementia: A Clinical Approach, Second Edition. Cummings & Benson, eds. Butterworth-Heinemann Publishing] In laymans terms, patients usually first have trouble with dropping blood pressure and later develop a type of parkinsonism. All of the 4 or 5 cases I've seen have had dementia, but that could a selection bias (I run a dementia program.) What seems unclear is if the syndrome is a disease itself or rather a syndrome that can be seen as part of several different diseases. I hope this helps. mike ----------------------------------------------------------------- Mahmood (Mike) A. Usman, M.D. Director, Memory and Movement Disorder Programs Medical College of PA & Hahnemann University, Allegheny Campus e-mail: [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] Phone: (412) 330-4005 Fax: (412) 330-4089 4 Allegheny Center Pittsburgh, PA 15212 USA --------------------------------------------------------------