Can an eye fixed scan predict Parkinson’s illness?

For this examine, Dr. Siegfried Wagner, Honorary Clinical Senior Research Fellow on the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and lead creator of this examine, and his crew used synthetic intelligence to investigate knowledge from two totally different datasets — the AlzEye dataset and the U.Ok. Biobank database.

Scientists used knowledge from retinal eye scans taken by optical coherence tomography (OCT).

“OCT is a non-invasive imaging modality which can generate cross-sectional images of the retina,” Dr. Wagner defined. “In many ways, OCT is analogous to ultrasound, except rather than sound waves, it uses the backscattering of light to generate images imparting much greater resolution.”

Through an OCT scan, a health care provider can see the layers of the retina and measure their thickness. This will help within the prognosis of sure ailments, together with age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and holes within the macula.

Upon analyzing knowledge from the attention scans, the researchers discovered variations in two particular layers of the internal retina in folks with Parkinson’s illness — the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer and the internal nuclear layer.

“Thinning of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer has been seen in several neurological diseases, from multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer’s dementia, and it may reflect generalized loss of brain tissue. Abnormalities in the inner nuclear layer have only really been seen in cadaveric studies thus far,” Dr. Wagner stated.

“It’s fascinating to find changes here as cells using dopamine are found between this layer and the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer. We are speculating but it is possible that we are observing a primary dopamergic-related degeneration in patients with Parkinson’s disease,” he added.

The researchers discovered the diminished thickness of each these layers was related to the next danger of growing Parkinson’s illness.

According to Dr. Wagner, the researchers determined to search for markers of Parkinson’s illness in eye scans as a result of the illness is characterised by the lack of cells utilizing the neurotransmitter dopamine.

“The eye represents an accessible window into the brain and, importantly, also houses cells using the chemical dopamine,” he defined to Medical News Today.

“Previous work has shown that features of dopamine cell loss can be found in histological studies of retinal tissue in people with Parkinson’s disease; however, it has never been consistently observed in in-vivo imaging,” he stated.

Dr. Wagner, nonetheless, additionally stated you will need to spotlight that is an early-stage analysis discovering an affiliation between variations in retinal morphology and the event of Parkinson’s illness.

“Translating this into individual risk stratification requires considerable further work,” he continued.

“We are investigating multimodal retinal imaging as well as high dimensional modeling approaches based on deep learning for (the) prediction of Parkinson’s disease. We’re also planning to investigate the utility of retinal imaging in prodromal Parkinson’s disease,” he stated.

After reviewing this examine, Dr. Daniel Truong, a neurologist and medical director of The Parkinson’s and Movement Disorder Institute at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center, informed Medical News Today the concept that we are able to detect markers of Parkinson’s illness by eye scans as much as seven years earlier than medical presentation is revolutionary.

“Together with other prodromal signs such as loss of the sense of smell, constipation, REM sleep behavior disorder, this early detection could open up new avenues for early interventions, allowing us to potentially alter the course of the disease or at least manage symptoms more effectively,” he continued.

“Interestingly, the method of detection is not invasive. OCT scans of the retina are quick, highly detailed, and noninvasive, providing valuable insights not just about eye health but broader health conditions, too,” he stated.

However, Dr. Truong did state he had a couple of reservations about this examine.

“First and foremost, while these findings are promising, it’s essential to understand how they will translate to real-world clinical settings,” he defined.

“The question would be the cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and the psychological aspect of prediction on healthy patients is also an issue. The study itself is not yet ready to predict if an individual will develop Parkinson’s definitively,” he stated.

Medical News Today additionally spoke with Dr. Howard R. Krauss, a surgical neuro-ophthalmologist and director of Pacific Neuroscience Institute’s Eye, Ear & Skull Base Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, who was not concerned within the examine. He additionally voiced considerations in regards to the findings.

“Whenever a paper is published, the media picks it up as a breakthrough. The public picks it up as an indication that they can pick up their telephone, call their ophthalmologist, have an OCT done, and learn whether or not they’ll develop Parkinson’s disease, and that’s clearly not the case. An OCT will not tell you if you have, may have, or will have Parkinson’s disease,” he defined.

Dr. Krauss additionally stated it’s essential to notice that different circumstances could cause thinning of the ganglion cell layer and different retina layers that aren’t particular to Parkinson’s illness.

“Glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinal vascular disease, and a whole host of other things can cause thinning of the ganglion cell layer. In addition to, which was not touched on in this paper, even nearsightedness causes thinning of the ganglion cell layer, so it’s not a specific finding,” he identified.

Dr. Krauss stated what’s extra invaluable is discovering ophthalmic indicators of Parkinson’s illness throughout a medical examination.

“For example, patients with Parkinson’s disease have a higher incidence of dry eye, in part because they have a reduced blink rate,” he detailed.

“Patients with Parkinson’s disease have a higher incidence of difficulties with reading because even their eye movements are affected by Parkinson’s disease, and some will present with double vision. So careful clinical examination by an ophthalmologist or neuro-ophthalmologist can find early findings consistent with Parkinson’s disease,” he stated.

“In my own practice, over the decades, I have not infrequently been the first practitioner to suggest to a patient that they may have Parkinson’s disease based on findings in their eye examination. So if nothing else, this [study] serves as a reminder that one should have [r]egular eye examinations because there is indeed a lot about the eye and about the examination findings of the eye that tell us about a variety of systemic diseases, including Parkinson’s disease.”
— Dr. Howard R. Krauss