Pick's Disease: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Diagnosis

What is Pick’s disease?

Pick’s disease is a specific type of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a degenerative brain disease that happens most commonly in people under age 65. In years past, Pick’s disease was referred to as frontotemporal dementia itself. However, today, experts only use Pick’s name when the condition meets certain criteria.

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What is the difference between Pick’s disease and Niemann-Pick disease?

These two diseases have no connection other than the coincidence of the name “Pick.”

Pick’s disease gets its name from Arnold Pick, the Czech neurologist and psychiatrist who first identified and described the condition in 1892. It’s a type of frontotemporal dementia, meaning it only affects your brain.

Niemann-Pick disease gets its name from two German physicians, Albert Niemann and Ludwig Pick. This disease disrupts how your body stores and processes lipids (the chemical molecules that make up fats, oils, waxes, fatty acids, etc.). As lipids build up in your body, they affect your brain, liver, spleen, bone marrow, lungs, etc.

Who does it affect?

Pick’s disease affects people at younger ages than dementia or similar conditions. People diagnosed with Pick’s disease are most likely in their 50s or 60s. But there are cases of this condition in people as young as 20 or as old as 80.

There’s also some evidence that Pick’s disease can run in families. Researchers have found evidence that connects it with at least three specific gene mutations. However, most cases of Pick’s disease are “sporadic,” meaning the condition wasn’t inherited.

How common is Pick’s disease?

Experts estimate there are between 15 and 22 cases of Pick’s disease per 100,000 people. But experts also believe the accuracy of this number is in doubt and is likely higher than the available numbers suggest. That’s because Pick’s disease is impossible to diagnose while you’re alive and extremely difficult to diagnose even after death (more about this is available under the Diagnosis & Tests section below).

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How does this condition affect my body?

Pick’s disease is a type of frontotemporal dementia, a neurodegenerative disease. That means the affected neurons (brain or nerve cells) gradually stop working. As brain cells in the affected areas fail, those areas atrophy (shrink or wither), and you lose the abilities those areas once controlled. It has some similarities to Alzheimer’s disease but usually happens earlier and has some key differences.

Pick’s disease tends to affect specific parts of your brain and not others, causing behavior or language ability changes. People with Pick’s disease often can’t recognize they have a problem or medical condition. That’s because their brains can’t process information related to the condition as it happens.