Boston Globe article on MSA

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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/001/science/For_MSA_patients_remedies_are_

elusive+.shtml

For MSA patients, remedies are elusive

By Judy Foreman, 1/1/2002

Despite the promise of deep brain stimulation for a number of neurologic

problems, there are some conditions for which it doesn't seem to help,

including a baffling - and devastating - condition called multiple system

atrophy, or MSA, one of several diseases loosely termed ''Parkinson's

Plus.''

MSA, a neurodegenerative disease that is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's,

affects an estimated 25,000 to 100,000 people.

''It's like a thief in the night,'' said Tony Swartz-Lloyd, 65, a longtime

vice president at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who is now retired

and coping with MSA. ''It's a weird and elusive disease. ... It takes a

little piece of you here, a little piece there. You don't realize what's

missing at first.''

MSA, for which there is no long-term effective treatment, often starts, like

Parkinson's, with a loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain. But

unlike Parkinson's, dopamine-boosting drugs don't seem to help for more than

a couple of years.

Early symptoms of MSA include loss of balance and coordination, difficulty

speaking, a drop in blood pressure upon standing up but high blood pressure

while lying down, stiffness and slowness of movement. Patients often develop

other problems, such as impotence and difficulty urinating, that are

triggered by degeneration in the autonomic nervous system, which controls

involuntary bodily functions.

Despite the gloomy prognosis that many MSA patients face - gradual loss of

many bodily functions and death within six to eight years - there are some

bright spots, notably research suggesting that an underlying problem appears

to be abnormal deposits (on brain cells) of a protein called

alpha-synuclein.

Researchers are also studying neuroprotective drugs to keep brain cells from

dying in diseases such as MSA and Parkinson's, and other agents to help new

brain cells grow.

JUDY FOREMAN

This story ran on page E4 of the Boston Globe on 1/1/2002.

© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

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