Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Shy–Dra·ger syndrome Pronunciation:
'shI-'drA-g&r- Function:
noun : an uncommon degenerative disease of unknown cause thataffects the autonomic nervous system, that typically occurs in late middle age or old age, and that is characterized by orthostatic hypotension, muscular wasting and atrophy, rigidity, tremors, urinaryand fecal incontinence, impotence, anhidrosis, and atrophy of the iris called also
Shy-Drager disease Shy,
George Milton (1919–1967), and
Drager,
GlennAlbert (b 1917), American neurologists. Shy's major positions included those of clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness at theNational Institutes of Health and professor at Columbia University's New York Neurological Institute. His areas of research included nuclear medicine and neuromuscular disease; he was one of thecoauthors of
Atlas of Muscle (1957). In 1960 he and G.A. Drager published their description of the disease that bears their names.
