Picks Disease Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Picks DiseasePicks disease is a form of dementia characterized by a progressive and irreversible deterioration of social skills and changes in personality, along with impairment of intellect, memory, and language. In 1892 Arnold Pick, a German neurologist studied a patient who in his life had dementia and lost of speech. When the patient died, his outlook shrunk, with the brain cells having died (atrophied) in the specific areas of the brain. In Picks disease, the anterior and temporal lobes of the brain are most affected. Changes occur in the cerebral cortex (which is how the head-on lobe is affected.) Picks disease affects the temporal lobes of the brain in 25%, frontal lobes in 25% and both frontal and temporal lobes in 50% of cases (1). Damage to the frontal lobes leads to alterations in personality and behavior, changes in the way a person feels and expresses emotion, and loss of judgment. On a microscopic level, there is severe neuron damage in the cerebral cortex. The brain cells in these areas are found to be abnormal and swollen. These abnormal cells define Picks disease and are called Picks cells. Picks disease is often confused with Alzheimers disease where the degeneration generally affects mostly the temporal and the parietal lobes of the brain (2). When such normal cells are not seen on post-mortem examination but the same areas of the brain are affected by cell death the case may be described as Picks syndrome (3). In the early stages of Picks disease, unlike Alzheimers in its early stages, the patient can recognize sight and places. Usually, an infect person is diagnosed with probable Alzheimers, it is later discovered that the patient has Picks disease (2). There are three stages of the d... ...s exist as an familial disease in some families. The majority of case studies show that the patients affected have no family history of the disease. The rate of progression varies enormously between people ranging from a duration from 2-15 years ( 2). The death is usually caused by infection. Medication can be used to treat some of the behavioral problems. Picks disease alone is a very mentally and physically draining disease but along with medication, it maybe almost impossible for patients to continue a normal life once they are diagnosed with the disease and begin treatment. Sources1)Frontal Lobe Dementia and Picks Disease, http//www.alznsw.asn.au/library/picks.htm2)Picks Disease from Alzheimers Outreach, http//www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/odem/pk1.html3)CANDID Fact Sheets, http//www. receptive.ion.ucl.ac.uk/candid/factsheets/facts1.htm