Re: OPCA, MSA, etc - Jerry

[Guest guest]

Jerry,

Yes that is correct. I have forgotten the percentage of sporatic OPCA which

does NOT progress to MSA, but generally if the patient dies within about 10-12

years, I would consider it MSA. Charlotte never had a autopsy, but had ALL MSA

symptoms, so we are fairly certain it was MSA. Her worst symptom was balance,

so we feel it was MSA-C.

It may turn out in the future that MSA is actually 3,4 or even more rare brain

disorders. Some of them MAY be inherited, but for now we call them MSA. We

still need to concentrate on treating symptoms as best we can, labels do not

really help.

Take care, Bill Werre

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Jerry Cash wrote:

> Bill,

>

> Thanks for the clarification to the ons. Just a note of further

> clarification though, it is my understanding from what we've learned on this

> list that sporadic OPCA does not necessarily progress to MSA even though we

> often speak of MSA of the OPCA variety. Sporadic OPCA (which has not

> progressed to MSA of the OPCA variety) has a much different life expectancy

> (which is typically I believe around 20 years post diagnosis) and a slower

> rate of progression of symptoms than MSA of any variety. Do you agree?

>

> Regards,

>

> jerry Cash

>

> -