[Assessment for intelligence on patients with Pick's disease]

In contrast to Alzheimer's disease, it is unclear whether the MMS (Mini-Mental State) or the RCPM (Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices) is clinically useful as a mental test battery in patients with Pick's disease, and it has not been fully evaluated whether intelligence of these patients really deteriorate along with the staging of dementia. The present study aimed to make these problems clear. We administered the MMS and the RCPM to 17 cases of Pick's disease, including 7 cases with predominantly frontal lobe atrophy and 10 cases with predominantly temporal lobe atrophy, which were all classified into 3 groups according to the staging of dementia by using the NM scale (New Clinical Scale for Rating of Mental States). We also investigated whether these patients had "Denkfaulheit" (laziness of thinking) and/or "gogi" aphasia (word meaning aphasia), which may affect performances on the mental test batteries. Two cases with predominantly frontal lobe atrophy and 5 cases with predominantly temporal lobe atrophy were assessed by the same examinations several years later. In cases with predominantly frontal lobe atrophy, all the patients presented with "Denkfaulheit". However, the mean RCPM score was normal in the mildly damaged patients, suggesting that their intelligence were relatively preserved. In the moderately and severely damaged groups, their intelligence could not be assessed owing to their severe "Denkfaulheit". In cases with predominantly temporal lobe atrophy, all the patients had "gogi" aphasia and 3 cases of the severely damaged groups presented with "Denkfaulheit".(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)