One study reveals an innovative and non-invasive way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease: details inside

Washington DC: A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE revealed that Alzheimer's disease can now be diagnosed in a novel and non-invasive way. According to the study, reducing blood capillaries at the back of the eye could provide a new, non-invasive way to diagnose early cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists have detected these vascular changes in the human eye non-invasively, with an infrared camera and without the need for dyes or expensive MRI scans.

The back of the eye is optically accessible by a new type of technology (OCT angiography) capable of quantifying capillary changes with unmatched precision and unparalleled resolution, making the eye an ideal mirror for what is happening in the brain .

"Once our results validated, this approach could potentially provide an additional type of biomarker to identify individuals at high risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Amani Fawzi , searcher.

"These people can then be followed more closely and could be prime candidates for new therapies aimed at slowing the progression of the disease or preventing the onset of dementia badociated with the disease. Alzheimer's, "said Fawzi.

It is known that patients with Alzheimer 's have a decrease in retinal blood flow and vessel density, but it was not known if these changes were also manifested in people with a disease of the liver. Early Alzheimer's or mild and forgetful cognitive impairment presenting a higher risk of progression to dementia.

Weintraub and his team recruited 32 participants whose cognitive tests corresponded to the type of forgetful cognitive impairment, at age, bad and race, and compared them to subjects tested as cognitively normal for their age.

All people underwent ocular imaging with OCT angiography. The data was badyzed to determine if the vascular capillaries located at the back of the eye were different between the two groups of individuals.

The team now hopes to be able to correlate these findings with other types of more conventional (but also more invasive) Alzheimer's biomarkers and to explore longitudinal changes in ocular parameters in these subjects.

"Ideally, retinal findings would be well correlated with other brain biomarkers, and long-term studies are also important to see if retinal capillaries will change more dramatically in those who progressively decline and develop dementia." Alzheimer's, "said Fawzi.