This 74-year-old man was recently found to have a memory disorder.

Discussion: Pick's disease is now referred to as frontotemporal dementia. The onset of the disease is typically in the mid-to-late 50's, and the disease averages about 10 years from onset to death. The cause remains unknown.  Before PET, the only way to diagnose frontotemporal dementia was at autopsy. Clinical symptoms include disturbances of personality, behavior and language which may be noticed first and even be more severe than memory defects. Depending on the lobe affected, symptoms may include loss of social and sexual inhibition, impaired judgment, hoarding items, roaming, difficulties with attention and motivation, aphasia, repetitive speech patterns or the tendency to repeat anything heard.

There is atrophy of the frontotemporal regions on CT or MRI. Decreased FDG uptake in the frontal lobes and anterior temporal lobes is a feature of frontotemporal dementia. This case demonstrates te classic pattern of hypometabolism in the frontotemporal lobes on PET/CT.