Further steps forward in the fight against Parkinson’s disease: Researchers at University College London and with the help of colleagues at Moorfields Eye Hospital have discovered that this terrible disease could be “predicted” up to seven years before its appearance thanks to in-depth analyzes of eyesin the specific case with screening on retina.
What the research says
Inner retinal thickness changes in prevalent and incident Parkinson’s disease: a potential biomarker with prognostic value?, is the title of the paper published in the scientific journal Neurology. The research team would then have identified specific markers indicating the presence of Parkinson’s disease on average seven years before clinical presentation. “This is the first time anyone has shown these findings several years before diagnosis, and these findings were made possible by the largest study to date of retinal imaging in Parkinson’s disease,” the researchers write.
The result was obtained thanks to eye scans using artificial intelligence: the use of this data also unveiled signs of other neurodegenerative conditions in addition to Alzheimer’s including multiple sclerosis and, more recently, schizophrenia in a field of emerging research called “oculomics”.
The importance of the eyes
Industry experts have known for some time that the eyes can be like a sort of direct “window” on the human body because they are able to provide a direct view of many aspects of our health. High-resolution images of the retina have become routine thanks to a three-dimensional scan known as “optical coherence tomography” (OCT) that is widely used in eye clinics and high-end optical practices. “In less than a minute, an oct scan produces a cross-section of the retina (the back of the eye) in incredible detail, down to a thousandth of a millimetre,” explain the researchers at the Moorfields Eye Hospital.
In addition to eye health, the images provided by the retina go much further because it is “the only non-invasive way to visualize layers of cells below the skin’s surface”. Thanks to machine learning derived from artificial intelligence, computers are able to dig up hidden information about the whole body from just these images. So here’s what oculomics is: the ability to unleash this enormous potential.
“Important pre-screening tool”
“This work demonstrates the potential of eye data, harnessing technology to detect signs and changes too subtle for humans to see. We can now detect very early signs of Parkinson’s, opening up new treatment options,” said Alastair Denniston, Consultant Ophthalmologist at University Hospitals Birmingham, a professor at the University of Birmingham and a member of Moorfields Eye Hospital. “I continue to be amazed by what we can discover through eye scans. While we are not yet ready to predict whether an individual will develop Parkinson’s, we hope this method can soon become a pre-screening tool for people at risk for the disease said Siegfried Wagner, clinical research scientist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, researcher at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and principal investigator of this and other studies on the subject. “Finding signs of a number of diseases before symptoms emerge means that, in the future, people may have time to make lifestyle changes to prevent certain conditions from arising, and doctors may delay the onset and life-changing impact of neurodegenerative disorders”.
2023-08-22 16:45:00
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