Two new studies suggest signs of Alzheimer’s are visible in the eyes before symptoms appear.
Both studies show optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) can detect signs of Alzheimer’s disease in a matter of seconds.
Researchers at Duke University used OCTA to compare the retinas of Alzheimer’s patients with those of people with mild cognitive impairment, as well as healthy people. They found the Alzheimer’s group had loss of small retinal blood vessels at the back of the eye and a specific layer of the retina was thinner. Even people with mild cognitive impairment did not show these changes.
“This project meets a huge unmet need,” said ophthalmology professor Dr Sharon Fekrat, who led the research. “It’s not possible for current techniques like a brain scan or lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to screen the number of patients with this disease. Almost everyone has a family member or extended family affected by Alzheimer’s. We need to detect the disease earlier and introduce treatments earlier.”
Because genes play a significant role in how Alzheimer’s disease begins and progresses, another team of researchers from Sheba Medical Center in Israel, https://www.shebaonline.org/, examined 400 people who had a family history of the disease but showed no symptoms themselves. They compared their retina and brain scans with those who have no family history of Alzheimer’s.
