Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is the most common atypical variant of Alzheimer’s (AD) disease. Changes associated with PCA in the brain affect the visual cortex, but little is known whether there are retinal changes associated to with PCA. This study explored retinal phenotypic variations in typical AD (tAD) and PCA and compared these to cognitively normal controls (Ctrl).
METHODS:
Retinal images were taken with the OPTOS P200Tx scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). Retinal phenotyping was carried out on ultra-widefield (UWF) colour images of 69 Ctrl, 24 tAD and 25 PCA participants enrolled at the Dementia Research Centre at University College London, UK. High-resolution phenotyping was carried out for hard and soft drusen, reticular pseudodrusen, geographic atrophy, coroidal neovascularisation and peripheral reticular pigmentary degeneration. The resulting data was analysed using binary logistic regression.
RESULTS:
Individuals with tAD (OD=2.76 [CI: 1.24 to 6.10], p=.012) and PCA (OD=3.40 [CI: 1.25 to 9.22], p=.016) were more likely phenotyped as hard drusen than Ctrl in the retinal periphery. tAD (OD=0.34 [CI: 0.12 to 0.92], p=.035) were less likely to have soft drusen deposited in their retinal far-periphery compared to Ctrl. An almost three-fold increase in sub-retinal deposit (pseudodrusen) formation in tAD (OD=2.93 [CI: 1.10 to 7.76], p=.030) compared to Ctrl was detected
DISCUSSION:
UWF images demostrated that the retinal periphery might show significant changes for understanding differences between controls and different variants of AD.
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is the most common atypical variant of Alzheimer’s (AD) disease. Changes associated with PCA in the brain affect the visual cortex, but little is known whether there are retinal changes associated to with PCA. This study explored retinal phenotypic variations in typical AD (tAD) and PCA and compared these to cognitively normal controls (Ctrl).
METHODS:
Retinal images were taken with the OPTOS P200Tx scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). Retinal phenotyping was carried out on ultra-widefield (UWF) colour images of 69 Ctrl, 24 tAD and 25 PCA participants enrolled at the Dementia Research Centre at University College London, UK. High-resolution phenotyping was carried out for hard and soft drusen, reticular pseudodrusen, geographic atrophy, coroidal neovascularisation and peripheral reticular pigmentary degeneration. The resulting data was analysed using binary logistic regression.
RESULTS:
Individuals with tAD (OD=2.76 [CI: 1.24 to 6.10], p=.012) and PCA (OD=3.40 [CI: 1.25 to 9.22], p=.016) were more likely phenotyped as hard drusen than Ctrl in the retinal periphery. tAD (OD=0.34 [CI: 0.12 to 0.92], p=.035) were less likely to have soft drusen deposited in their retinal far-periphery compared to Ctrl. An almost three-fold increase in sub-retinal deposit (pseudodrusen) formation in tAD (OD=2.93 [CI: 1.10 to 7.76], p=.030) compared to Ctrl was detected
DISCUSSION:
UWF images demostrated that the retinal periphery might show significant changes for understanding differences between controls and different variants of AD.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e12232 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 13 Aug 2021 |
Keywords
- RESEARCH ARTICLE
- RETINAL IMAGING
- Alzheimer's disease
- drusen
- peripheral reticular pigmentary degeneration
- posterior cortical atrophy
- reticular pseudodrusen
- retinal imaging
- retinal phenotype
- sub‐retinal deposit
- ultra‐widefield imaging