|
|
|
Alzheimer’s Eye Test |
|
|
Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of people worldwide. In
the United States alone, 4.5 million people are experiencing memory loss,
impaired judgment, problems with language, and other signs of brain
degeneration that is one of the symptoms of this disease. A number of
treatment options are available.
Director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson
University in Philadelphia and an adviser to the Alzheimer’s Association,
Sam Gandy says, “The most intensive area of Alzheimer’s research right now
is to determine how to slow the progression of it years or even decades
before the plaques start to cause symptoms. There are at least 35 drugs in
development to do that right now.”
But in order to get the most benefit out of these drugs, early detection of
Alzheimer’s disease is the key. A tool that can recognize the early symptoms
of Alzheimer’s is therefore needed. The Alzheimer’s eye test fits the bill
perfectly.
The Alzheimer’s eye test has the potential to revolutionize Alzheimer’s
treatment and research. What started out as a minor observation that Lee
Goldstein made while working on his postdoctoral research project at a
Harvard laboratory has become a potential new front in the war against the
ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Goldstein, M.D., now a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School and
practicing physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital worked on that earlier
observation to come up with the Alzheimer’s eye test. In his studies, he
discovered that the eyes, particularly around the rim of the lenses, of
someone affected with Alzheimer’s exhibit amyloid plaques long before the
same plaques in the patient’s brain start to cause the symptoms of
Alzheimer’s.
In order to determine if there is any presence of amyloid plaques in the
subject’s eyes, Goldstein made use of a specialized device that can scatter
light and a laser which he can shine toward the back of the eyeball. The
manner by which the light from the laser is scattered as it bounces off the
Alzheimer’s eye test device is the basis for detection.
“There’s a lot of data that has to be collected to prove what a healthy
person’s eye should look like, and exactly what level of amyloid means that
Alzheimer’s is a real future possibility,” states Goldstein. “But we’re
definitely on the right track.”
The Alzheimer’s eye test is a Quasi Elastic Light Scattering device that is
used to identify the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Basically, what the
device does is to shine a low frequency laser at a 90 degree angle toward
the back of the eye. Then, a photon detector reads both the laser and the
scattered light before feeding it through software. This software is the one
that determines whether there are amyloid plaques present in the lens of the
eye or not. |
| This article
is provided courtesy of Roxanne Courtmanch. Please visit
www.thehelpingcircle.com for more articles on Alzheimers
as well as many other topics that may be of interest to you. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alzheimer Articles
|
Alzheimer’s Association
Alzheimer’s disease is a dreaded disease that affects the cognitive
functions of the brain.
|
|
Alzheimer’s Cures
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain illness that causes the victim
to become confused and lose his cognitive functions. |
|
Alzheimer’s Disease
It
starts with minor memory lapses, like getting people’s names confused or
forgetting where you put the keys to the car. |
|
Alzheimer’s Eye Test
Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of
people worldwide. In the United States alone, 4.5 million people are
experiencing memory loss,
|
|
Alzheimer’s History
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia (a brain disorder
that seriously affects the person’s memory,
|
|
|
|
Alzheimer’s Nursing Homes
We always want what’s best for our family. And we think that
no one can take care of our loved one quite as well as we can.
|
|
Alzheimer’s Research
Dementia is the collective name for a broad
category of brain disorders, sharing more or less the same common symptom of
progressive
|
|
Alzheimer’s Test
Experts say that there are about 4 million people in the United States that
exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
|
|
Causes of Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex brain disorder that results
in the gradual degeneration of most of the mental functions of
|
|
Early Onset Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia (a
neuropathological disorder affecting many cognitive functions of the brain)
commonly
|
|
|
|
|
