Marilynn Marchione, of Huffington Post reports, that Eye Test May Give Clues To Alzheimer's Disease, that one day, may lead to a inexpensive test to detect early signs of the disease.
"It's a small study" but "suggestive and encouraging," one of the American researchers, Dr. Lee Goldstein of Boston University, said of the Australian work. "My hat's off to them for looking outside the brain for other areas where we might see other evidence of this disease." ...
More than 5.4 million Americans and 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. Brain scans can find evidence of it a decade or more before it causes memory and thinking problems but they're too expensive and impractical for routine use. Doctors and families need easier ways to tell who is developing the disease, so a simple eye test could be a big help.
It involves photographing blood vessels in the retina, the nerve layer lining the back of the eyes. Drops are used to dilate a patient's eyes, just as they are in a routine exam.
Researchers compared retinal photos of 110 healthy people, 13 with Alzheimer's and 13 with mild cognitive impairment, or "pre-Alzheimer's," who were taking part in a larger study on aging. The widths of certain blood vessels were different in those with Alzheimer's than in the others and the amount of difference matched the amount of plaque seen on brain scans.
Alzheimer's disease is so devastating for people, and their loved ones. Let's hope researcher continue to make progress in understanding how it develops, and how to prevent it, or to ameliorate symptoms.