Alzheimer’s: Rare vision condition may be an early warning sign

Evan Walker
Evan Walker TheMediTary.Com |
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A new study shows about 94% of people with a rare vision condition known as posterior cortical atrophy also have Alzheimer’s. Cavan Images/Juan Ramón Ramos Rivero/Getty Images
  • Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain and may also have an impact on the eyes.
  • A new study reported about 94% of people with a rare vision condition also had Alzheimer’s pathology.
  • Scientists urged the need for more clinical awareness of the condition, known as Benson’s syndrome, to help detect Alzheimer’s earlier.

Researchers estimate that about 32 million people have a type of dementia called Alzheimer’s disease, with another 69 million at the prodromal stage, which is defined as having mild cognitive impairment.

It’s well understood that Alzheimer’s impacts brain functions such as memory, spatial awareness, speaking, and writing, but lesser known are the changes to the brain associated with the condition that may also impact the eyes.

Previous studies show that changes that occur in the brain with Alzheimer’s may also happen in the retina of the eye. Researchers have also noted eye changes with Alzheimer’s, including contrast sensitivity required for reading, color vision, and visual field loss.

In a new study, researchers from the University of California — San Francisco examined how Alzheimer’s affects the eye by identifying the effects of a rare eye condition known as Health">posterior cortical atrophy or Benson’s syndrome.

Scientists reported that about 94% of people with posterior cortical atrophy also had Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Based on their findings, researchers urged the need for more clinical awareness of posterior cortical atrophy for earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

The results were published in the journal The Lancet Neurology.

MNT also spoke with Dr. Alexander Solomon, a surgical neuro-ophthalmologist and strabismus surgeon at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, CA, about this study.

Dr. Solomon commented that it is extremely useful to see such a large and thoroughly evaluated data set on the strong connection between Alzheimer’s and posterior cortical atrophy, but as a clinician who treats these patients, it is hardly surprising given the disease is sometimes known as the visual variant of Alzheimer’s.

“It is good to see more attention being brought to the disease, which I think (is) more awareness from neurologists than your average eye care professional. I think it can serve as an impetus to start screening patients complaining about difficulty with visual processing early for evidence of underlying posterior cortical atrophy by referring them appropriately to a neurologist, neuropsychologist, or neuro-ophthalmologist more familiar with diagnosing the condition.”

— Dr. Alexander Solomon, surgical neuro-ophthalmologist

Dr. Solomon said this study would be a good springboard to help develop prospective studies on how best to screen and diagnose patients presenting with some of the symptoms of posterior cortical atrophy to help achieve better and earlier diagnostic certainty and to see how many of these correlations hold up.

“(The researchers) alluded to the fact that one weakness here is that diagnosis was made by individual practitioners with varying diagnostic criteria with almost no limit to how long ago this diagnosis was made, and thoughts/attitudes/criteria have shifted over time which could affect results,” he explained.

“I’d also be really interested to see the efficacy of some of the clinical tests for Alzheimer’s as screening tools for the disease, as this may encourage more widespread and earlier use of these tests if appropriate.”

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