Assessment of Visual Impairment in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

Sadun, Alfredo A.; Borchert, Mark; DeVita, Edward; Hinton, David R.; Bassi, Carl J.

doi:10.1016/0002-9394(87)90001-8

Cited by 218 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

127

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Multiple sclerosis patients displayed VCS deficits that were orientation specific, suggesting cortical rather than retinal or optic nerve damage (88,89). A primarily low spatial-frequency VCS deficit was present in Parkinson (83) and Alzheimer (90)(91)(92)(93) patients, the latter of whom showed an extent of cognitive impairment predicted by VCS scores (93). AIDS patients displayed Group-mean color-confusion index values (CCI; ± SEM) for populations with chronic, environmental exposure to airborne perc, and for matched-control populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apartment residents' and day care workers' exposures to tetrachloroethylene and deficits in visual contrast sensitivity.

Schreiber¹,

Hudnell²,

Geller³

et al. 2002

Environ Health Perspect

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tetrachloroethylene (also called perchloroethylene, or perc), a volatile organic compound, has been the predominant solvent used by the dry-cleaning industry for many years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified perc as a hazardous air pollutant because of its potential adverse impact on human health. Several occupational studies have indicated that chronic, airborne perc exposure adversely affects neurobehavioral functions in workers, particularly visual color discrimination and tasks dependent on rapid visual-information processing. A 1995 study by Altmann and colleagues extended these findings, indicating that environmental perc exposure at a mean level of 4,980 microg/m(3) (median=1,360 microg/m(3)) alters neurobehavioral functions in residents living near dry-cleaning facilities. Although the U.S. EPA has not yet set a reference concentration guideline level for environmental exposure to airborne perc, the New York State Department of Health set an air quality guideline of 100 microg/m(3). In the current residential study, we investigated the potential for perc exposure and neurologic effects, using a battery of visual-system function tests, among healthy members of six families living in two apartment buildings in New York City that contained dry-cleaning facilities on the ground floors. In addition, a day care investigation assessed the potential for perc exposure and effects among workers at a day care center located in the same one-story building as a dry-cleaning facility. Results from the residential study showed a mean exposure level of 778 microg/m(3) perc in indoor air for a mean of 5.8 years, and that perc levels in breath, blood, and urine were 1-2 orders of magnitude in excess of background values. Group-mean visual contrast sensitivity (VCS), a measure of the ability to detect visual patterns, was significantly reduced in the 17 exposed study participants relative to unexposed matched-control participants. The groups did not differ in visual acuity, suggesting that the VCS deficit was of neurologic origin. Healthy workers in the day care investigation were chronically exposed to airborne perc at a mean of 2,150 microg/m(3) for a mean of 4.0 years. Again, group-mean VCS, measured 6 weeks after exposure cessation, was significantly reduced in the nine exposed workers relative to matched controls, and the groups did not differ significantly in visual acuity. These results suggested that chronic, environmental exposure to airborne perc adversely affects neurobehavioral function in healthy individuals. Further research is needed to assess the susceptibility of the young and elderly to perc-induced effects, to determine whether persistent solvent-induced VCS deficits are a risk factor for the development of neurologic disease, and to identify the no observable adverse effect level for chronic, environmental, perc exposure in humans.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apartment residents' and day care workers' exposures to tetrachloroethylene and deficits in visual contrast sensitivity.

Schreiber¹,

Hudnell²,

Geller³

et al. 2002

Environ Health Perspect

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Reductions in pupillary responses have been reported, but the effect is highly variable and it is difficult to distinguish between patients with AD and patients with Parkinsonism or vascular dementia. Ability to fixate, saccades and pursuit movements are affected in patients with AD (Sadun et al 1987;Fletcher & Sharpe 1988;Zaccara et al 1992). These when combined with a high degree of clinical suspicion and retinal findings could be very sensitive in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.…”

Section: Combining Clinical and Retinal Imaging Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can the retina be used to diagnose and plot the progression of Alzheimer's disease?

Mahajan

Votruba

2017

Acta Ophthalmologica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of senile dementia. It impairs the quality of life of a person and their family, posing a serious economic and social threat in developed countries. The fact that the diagnosis can only be definitively made post‐mortem, or when the disease is fairly advanced, presents a serious problem if novel therapeutic interventions are to be devised and used early in the course of the disease. There is therefore a pressing need for more sensitive and specific diagnostic tests with which we can detect AD in the preclinical stage. The tau proteins and beta‐amyloid proteins start to accumulate 20 years before the symptoms begin to manifest. Detecting them in the preclinical stage would be a potential breakthrough in the management of AD. A high degree of clinical suspicion is needed to correlate problems in cognition with the changes in the eye, particularly the retina, pupil and ocular movements, so that the disease can be detected early and managed in the prodromal phase. In this systematic review, we ask the question whether the retina can be used to make a specific and early diagnosis of AD.

show abstract

“…Visual disturbance is often an early complaint of AD patients [46][47] and studies have reported reduced visual performance on tests of visual field [48][49], color vision [50][51][52], contrast sensitivity [53][54][55], backward masking [56][57], visual attention, motion perception, shape-from motion, visuo-spatial construction, visual memory [58][59][60], delayed saccadic initiation and movement and fixation problems [47,[61][62][63]. However, none of these deficiencies are specific to AD.…”

Section: Vision In Alzheimer's Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Ocular Biomarkers for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

Frost

Martins

Kanagasingam

2010

JAD

100

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is characterized clinically by a progressive decline in memory, learning and executive function and neuropathologically by the presence of cerebral amyloid deposits. Despite a century of research, there is still no cure or conclusive pre-mortem diagnosis for the disease. A number of symptom-modifying drugs for AD have been developed, but their efficacy is minimal and short-lived. AD cognitive symptoms arise only after significant, irreversible neural deterioration has occurred, hence there is an urgent need to detect AD early, before the onset of cognitive symptoms. An accurate, early diagnostic test for AD would enable current and future treatments to be more effective, as well as contribute to the development of new treatments.While most AD related pathology occurs in the brain, the disease has also been reported to affect the eye, which is more accessible for imaging than the brain. AD-related proteins exist in the normal human eye and may produce ocular pathology in AD. There is some homology between the retinal and cerebral vasculatures and the retina also contains nerve cells and fibers that form a sensory extension of the brain. The eye is the only place in the body where vasculature or neural tissue is available for non-invasive optical imaging. This article presents a review of current literature on ocular morphology in AD and discusses the potential for an ocular based screening test for AD.

show abstract

Assessment of Visual Impairment in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

Cited by 218 publications

References 20 publications

Apartment residents' and day care workers' exposures to tetrachloroethylene and deficits in visual contrast sensitivity.

Apartment residents' and day care workers' exposures to tetrachloroethylene and deficits in visual contrast sensitivity.

Can the retina be used to diagnose and plot the progression of Alzheimer's disease?

Ocular Biomarkers for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About