Genealogic and Clinicopathologic Study of Pick's Disease

Knowledge of the clinical and pathoanatomic features of Pick's disease has been considerably advanced in recent years, but the cause and pathogenesis are still incompletely understood. Some of the early investigators (Gans,1Reich and Kufs2) suggested that the disease may have a hereditary basis, and this assumption has been borne out by subsequent clinical and genealogic studies (Grunthal,3Verhaart,4Schmitz and Meyer,5Haskovec6and Lowenberg and others7). In 1930 Grunthal8made the first pathoanatomic confirmation of this view in a study of 2 brothers, followed by that of von Braunmuhl and Leonhard9in the cases of 2 sisters (1934). Convincing proof was furnished in 1939 by Sanders and others,10who reported on a family showing evidence of the disease in 17 members, the disorder being transmitted through four generations and its presence being confirmed at autopsy in 4 instances. We