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A new study has revealed that an annual eye test could have more benefits than just updating the prescription of your glasses.
In a study involving more than 200 people, researchers at the Duke Eye Center found differences in the density of blood vessels in the retina of participants with Alzheimer's disease and those without the disease.
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"In people with healthy brains, microscopic blood vessels form a dense network at the back of the eye in the retina, as seen in 133 participants in a control group," said the researchers. in a press release regarding the results published in the newspaper. retinal ophthalmology newspaper Monday. But for the 39 participants with Alzheimer's disease, compared, "this network was less dense and even rare in places," they explained.
"It is possible that these changes in blood vessel density in the retina may reflect what is happening in the tiny blood vessels in the brain, perhaps before we can detect any changes in cognition."
"We measure the blood vessels that can not be seen during a regular eye exam and we do this with relatively new noninvasive technology that takes high resolution images of very small retinal blood vessels in just few minutes ", the Ophthalmologist and Retinal Duke surgeon Sharon Fekrat, the main author of the study, said in a statement.
"It is possible that these changes in the density of the blood vessels in the retina may reflect what is happening in the tiny blood vessels in the brain, perhaps before we can detect any changes in cognition," he said. she adds.
Currently, health care professionals can diagnose memory-destroying disease through brain imaging tests (such as MRI or CT scans), neurological exams, and diagnostic tests. other methods. But the discoveries of Duke researchers could mean that there may soon be an easier – and more cost effective – way to detect and diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
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"Ultimately, the goal would be to use this technology to quickly detect Alzheimer's disease, before symptoms of memory loss become apparent, and to be able to track these changes over time." of time among participants in clinical trials studying new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, "Fekrat said.
In the United States alone, 5.8 million people live with Alzheimer's dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2019 data. The currently disease-free disease is the sixth leading cause of death in America.
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