Picks Disease
Compared with Alzheimer's disease, which accounts
for 50 to 60 percent of dementia cases, Pick's disease accounts for about
5 percent.
Pick's disease was first identified in 1892 by Dr. Arnold Pick, who described
progressive mental deterioration in a 71-year-old man. On autopsy, his
brain showed unusual shrinkage of the frontal cortex, the region involved
in reasoning and other higher mental functions. Cortex shrinkage is different
from the anatomical changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease.
The brains of people with Pick's disease also show unusual protein deposits
(Pick bodies).
Ironically, the first person with Pick's disease was not typical. The condition
is more common in women than men, and most sufferers develop it between
age 40 and 60. It is rare in people over 75.
Pick's disease causes symptoms different from Alzheimer's: less disorientation
and memory loss early on, and more personality changes, and loss of social
restraints. But as the disease progresses, profound dementia develops until
eventually sufferers are mute, immobile, and incontinent.
Pick's disease is diagnosed in a process similar to Alzheimer's. Frequently,
an affected individual is diagnosed with "probable Alzheimer's"
and later, the diagnosis is changed to Pick's.