UCSF

Neurodegenerative diseases are caused by aggregation of specific proteins that catalyze a cascade of changes that ultimately lead to neurodegeneration. This concept guides current diagnostic approaches, as well as clinical trials, that focus on detecting or removing amyloid or tau from the brain. The semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), a clinical syndrome associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) pathology, is usually associated with the molecular pathology TDP-C, but there are cases with TDP-B and Pick's disease. The existing literature on the clinical differentiation of these pathologies is limited. Here, we present a case study, in conjunction with a cross-sectional voxel-based morphometry (VBM), to elucidate the clinical and imaging features of a patient with svPPA due to Pick's disease.