Pick’s disease

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Central nervous system

Pick's disease is a rare and permanent form of dementia that is similar to Alzheimer's disease, except that it tends to affect only certain areas of the brain.

Semantic dementia; Dementia - semantic; Frontotemporal dementia; Arnold Pick's disease

People with Pick's disease have abnormal substances (called Pick bodies and Pick cells) inside nerve cells in the damaged areas of the brain.

Pick bodies and Pick cells contain an abnormal form of a protein called tau. This protein is found in all nerve cells. But some people with Pick's disease have an abnormal amount or type of this protein.

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The exact cause of the abnormal form of the protein is unknown. Many different abnormal genes have been found that can cause Pick’s disease. Many cases of Pick's disease are passed down through families.

Pick's disease is rare. It can occur in people as young as 20, but usually begins between ages 40 and 60. The average age at which it begins is 54.

Review Date: 03/28/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).