Outlook

Pick disease starts slowly but finally results in severe brain damage.

• People with the disease gradually lose cognitive functions, ability to carry out everyday activities, and ability to respond appropriately to their surroundings.
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• Many lose their ability to communicate and understand language.
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• They eventually become completely dependent on others for care.
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• These losses occur in everyone with the disease, but the speed with which they occur varies from person to person and may be slowed by treatment.

Pick disease is considered to be a terminal disease.

• The actual cause of death usually is a physical illness such as pneumonia. Such illnesses can be debilitating in a person who is already weakened by the effects of the disease.
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• On average, a person with Pick disease lives about 7 years after the disease is diagnosed. In some people, the disease progresses to death much more rapidly. Others live 10 years or longer after onset of the disease. The differences in the speed at which the condition worsens have not been explained.