Eye Multimodal Imaging in Neurodegenerative Disease
Changes in the brain start 20 years before the development of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, such as memory loss, confusion, and mental decline. New medications that are being studied to treat Alzheimer's disease may be more effective before Alzheimer's becomes too advanced. One goal of the iMIND Research Group is to be able to diagnose Alzheimer's disease before these symptoms begin - using images of the retina of the eye.
Currently, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is not always accurate. Even though Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, there are other types of dementia such as frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and Lewy body dementia. A second goal of the iMIND Research Group is to be able to more accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease using images of the retina of the eye. It is very important that study participants in clinical trials have an accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
In the iMIND Study, participants will sign informed consent. Distance visual acuity will be measured, and a Mini Mental State Examination will be performed. Eye images will then be obtained using two different cameras, without the need for any eye drops or X-rays. The whole process often takes only 30 minutes.
