Author(s): Maria P Bambo, Elena Garcia-Martin, Jose M Larrosa, Vicente Polo, Fernando Gutierrez-Ruiz, Vilades, Laura Gil-Arribas and Luis E Pablo
Pathologic changes in the retina and optic nerve are observed in patients with Alzheimer´s disease (AD), even in early stages of the dementia. In our clinical ophthalmology practice, we use optical coherence tomography (OCT), a noninvasive, rapid, objective, and reliable technology that enables for quantification of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), namely the retinal ganglion cell axons that eventually form the optic nerve. The opportunity to analyze a part of the central nervous system by such a simple exploration led to several studies demonstrating thinning of the RNFL and central retina in AD patients compared with healthy subjects. Here we present some of our investigations in AD patients using Spectral Domain-OCT. Our results suggest that axonal loss secondary to pathologic alterations in the brains of AD patients can be observed by OCT. We also analyzed the association between retinal and RNFL thicknesses and neurologic characteristics, disease duration and severity, and found that mean RNFL thickness was significantly correlated with disease duration, indicating that the progression of AD is associated with a progressive loss of ganglion cells.
