Retinal Amyloid Imaging for Screening Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Cost-effective and noninvasive methods for in vivo imaging of amyloid deposition are needed to screen Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although retinal amyloid is a possible diagnostic marker of AD, there are very few studies on in vivo retinal amyloid imaging.

Objective: To examine the usefulness of in vivo imaging of retinal amyloid in AD patients.

Methods: To examine amyloid deposition, 30 Japanese subjects (10 normal control (NC), 7 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 13 with AD) underwent a complete ophthalmic examination, including fundus imaging by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy before and after oral curcumin intake.

Results: Retinal amyloid deposition was greater in AD than in NC subjects (*p < 0.05) while MCI showed a slight but insignificant increase of retinal amyloid deposition relative to NC subjects. Retinal amyloid deposition was correlated with whole gray matter atrophy (r = 0.51, *p < 0.05) but not with the cognitive score of the Mini-Mental State Examination, nor with medial temporal lobe atrophy.

Conclusion: The present noninvasive in vivo detection of retinal amyloid deposition is useful for screening AD patients.