Posted on 03/13/2019 10:17:38 AM PDT by Red Badger
DURHAM, N.C. — Your eyes may be the window to your soul, but thanks to new research, they may also be the key to detecting Alzheimer’s disease early on. Researchers at the Duke Eye Center say a simple eye scan may reveal activity in the brain associated with the debilitating condition.
Eye doctors may not only be fitting patients with glasses or contacts in the future, but they could also be routinely checking people for Alzheimer’s. The research team found that blood vessel activity in the eyes of Alzheimer’s patients is notably different from that within healthy individuals. ==========================================================
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“We know that there are changes that occur in the brain in the small blood vessels in people with Alzheimer’s disease, and because the retina is an extension of the brain, we wanted to investigate whether these changes could be detected in the retina using a new technology that is less invasive and easy to obtain,” says lead author Dr. Dilraj S. Grewal, M.D., an ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon at Duke, in a media release.
In healthy people, blood vessels form a dense web inside the retina, researchers say, but in patients with Alzheimer’s, that web is notably weaker. Using a noninvasive technology called optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), the authors were able to spot these differences when looking at the eyes of 133 healthy people, compared to 39 people with Alzheimer’s and 37 people with mild cognitive impairment. The OCTA eye scan allows doctors to take high-resolution images of the retina in just a few minutes and see blood vessel activity.
Changes in the blood vessel density in the retina could indicate similar activity within the brain that occurs in people with Alzheimer’s. But these changes may occur before symptoms become noticeable, such as changes in memory. That’s why the authors believe this eye scan could be groundbreaking.
“Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is a huge unmet need,” says senior author Dr. Sharon Fekrat, an ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon at Duke, in a statement to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “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. It is possible that these changes in blood vessel density in the retina may mirror what’s going on in the tiny blood vessels in the brain. Our work is not done. If we can detect these blood vessel changes in the retina before any changes in cognition, that would be a game changer.”
The study was published in the journal Ophthalmology Retina.
What am I missing here? Do they have a cure or treatment for Alzheimers if treated early?
Looks more like a vascular degeneration measurement. Alzheimer’s is not the only affliction that involves vascular degeneration.
What am I missing here? Do they have a cure or treatment for Alzheimers if treated early?
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Exactly. What’s the point? So you can be miserable for a longer time?
My wife’s eye doctor has a very sophisticated piece of equipment that makes very detailed digital images of the inner eye. And in one case he sent a patient directly to a hospital because of an impending stroke that he detected in one of those images. True story.
You are right to query. There is nothing in the article to suggest that it would do any good to know ahead of time that you’re going to have Alzheimer’s. That, to me, would be worse than not knowing.
I am glad, by the posts so far, that I am not the only one with the same exact opinion.
Personally, since there is no cure, I would much prefer not knowing while the cognitive process is still going on. Being just south of 73 years old the occasional thought/worry that I might even someday contract Alzheimer’s is quite enough, thank you.
Knowing I have it before the effects start showing would just make me morbid every waking second.
So you scan and you detect it. Then what do you do? How is this helpful, there is no cure.
There are newer drugs that have been able to slow the progress............
Without a cure, this simply gets folks into treatment $tatu$ sooner.
Like much of the a la cart medical testing, earlier detection means longer treatment time.
Much more lucrative than a cure......
.02
YMMV
KYPD
Can I have some more research money now?
Only if you tell us it causes climate change.................
Thanks Red Badger. That's nice, now it'll be possible to worry about it longer.
Pure hype, waiting for confirmation.
There are other forms of dementia in addition to Alzheimer’s. Here’s hoping the wife has hubby in to see a gerontologist for an eval.
Cure? If you are in a 20’ hole and have a 5’ ladder, you aren’t coming out no matter what.
For early & moderate ALZ there is a proven way out.
The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline Hardcover – August 22, 2017
by Dale Bredesen (Author)
plenty of natural ways to slow it down, enjoy more life. people can change outcomes if they know sooner AND choose to act accordingly.
Whenever I hear about some incurable disease, I think of ulcers.
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