Dismiss Notice
SDN members see fewer ads and full resolution images. Join our non-profit community!

alzheimers vs. Picks disease?

Discussion in 'Step I' started by anesthesiarocks, May 9, 2007.

Previous Thread Next Thread
Loading...
  1. anesthesiarocks

    anesthesiarocks

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2007
    Messages:
    201
    Likes Received:
    0
    Status:
    Medical Student
    what's the difference? Best I can tell Pick is strictly limited to frontal and temporal lobe involvement whereas Alzheimers can involve the whole cortex(but preferentially the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes). The only histopath difference is that the intracellular tau in AD is hyperphosporylated and called "NF tangles" while the intracellular aggregated tau in Picks disease are called Pick bodies. In terms of symptoms you get dementia with both obviously, and things like disinhibition/parkinsonian symptoms, and aphasia which are associated with Pick's also come about in AD(except only sometimes PD symptoms).....

    so what(except for the frontotemporal only involvement in picks) are the meaningful/testable differences between these two?
     
    #1 anesthesiarocks, May 9, 2007
    2. Thread continues after this sponsor message. SDN Members do not see this ad.

  2. blz

    blz Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2002
    Messages:
    1,282
    Likes Received:
    3
    Status:
    Resident [Any Field]
    well you won't get amyloid angiopathy or senile plaques in Pick's. Pick's is really only gonna give you a triad of frontotemporal dimentia, semantic dimentia, and progressive nonfluent aphasia (+ some parkinsonian symptoms). Alzheimer's is really just impairment of higher intellectual function without any focal neurological deficits. im sure if they ask a question differentiating the two, it'll be obvious.
     
    #2 blz, May 9, 2007
  3. UCLAstudent

    UCLAstudent I'm a luck dragon!

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2002
    Messages:
    5,046
    Likes Received:
    7
    Status:
    Resident [Any Field]
    They also have different epidemiologies --- Pick's is more common in women and affects a younger age group than Alzheimer's.
     
    #3 UCLAstudent, May 9, 2007
  4. Idiopathic

    Idiopathic Newly Minted
    Lifetime Donor Classifieds Approved

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2003
    Messages:
    8,363
    Likes Received:
    16
    Status:
    Attending Physician

    are they going to let you bring that textbook with you to the exam?


    the key is behavioral abnormalities. people with Pick's disease will be brought in by family members who will say "he just isn't acting right" or "he's been angrier/more reclusive recently" coupled with memory loss. they will often be inappropriate and may use language (i.e. cursing) that they have never used before.

    alzheimer's typically doesn't give you these symptoms, as its more a progressive memory loss.
     
    #4 Idiopathic, May 10, 2007
Previous Thread Next Thread
Loading...
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page