Clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological characterization of a patient with Alzheimer's disease syndrome due to Pick's pathology

Neurocase. 2022 Feb;28(1):19-28. doi: 10.1080/13554794.2021.1936072. Epub 2021 Aug 17.

Abstract

The most common neurodegenerative syndrome associated with Pick's disease pathology (PiD) is behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), which features profound social behavioral changes. Rarely, PiD can manifest as an Alzheimer's disease (AD)-type dementia with early memory impairment. We describe a patient with AD-type dementia and pure PiD pathology who showed slowly progressive memory impairment, early social changes, and paucity of motor symptoms. Atrophy and PiD were found mainly in frontotemporal regions underlying social behavior. This report may help predict the pathology of patients with atypical AD, which will ultimately be critical for enrolling suitable subjects into disease-modifying clinical trials.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Pick’s disease; frontotemporal lobar degeneration; memory; social functioning.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease* / complications
  • Alzheimer Disease* / diagnostic imaging
  • Atrophy
  • Frontotemporal Dementia* / complications
  • Frontotemporal Dementia* / diagnostic imaging
  • Frontotemporal Dementia* / pathology
  • Humans
  • Neuroimaging
  • Pick Disease of the Brain* / complications
  • Pick Disease of the Brain* / diagnostic imaging
  • Syndrome