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Judy Meredith wrote: > I subscribed to see what I could learn about > Olive Ponto Cerebellar Disease, which is similar to > Parkinson's but more rapidly progressive and of > mysterious etiology. > > I am an occupational therapist and am working with a man > who has OPCD. Does anyone on this list have information > about good informations sources about OPCD?? Dear Judy, It's only a name. Doctors like to give various parts of the body (and many other things) arcane and esoteric Latin or Greek names, often just the word for a familiar object with fancied resemblance to the part in question. Mostly to hornswoggle common folk like us who ain't so eddicated. So: olive = an "olive"-shaped part of the brain pons = another part, suggestive of a "bridge" cerebellum = "little brain"; a round appendage under the back part of the brain that controls autonomous movement and balance. Then, whenever they discover two or more patients who seem to have more or less the same set of symptoms, they name it as a specific disease, so they can publish scholarly articles about it in scientific journals. Thus: Olivo-Ponto-Cerebellar Atrophy (OPCA) is just a name for the simultaneous degeneration, or atrophy, of those three parts of the brain. Unfortunately, that's about all they know about it. Unlike Parkinson's Disease which is a highly specific, but not limited to, defect of certain special cells in a small well-defined area, OPCA represents only one of the many combinations of parts that can go wrong. Since OPCA involves the cerebellum, patients lose ability to walk. There are lots of other diseases representing other combinations- vaguely related to PD because at some point they also affect gait and balance: MSA, SDS, CBGD, PSP, etc., but the resemblance ends there, because only PD is specific and localized enough to permit a definite kind of treatment. Some of those others can be identified while the patient is still alive, and often the failure of PD treatment is a major clue. There's no particular treatment I know of for OPCA, because so far it's defined only by the combination of parts of the brain that happen to be affected. -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013