The eyes are a window into the brain for many disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease may be no exception, a researcher said here. In a pilot study, retinal scans to measure blood vessel thickness at the back of the eye showed strong correlations with the level of beta-amyloid deposits in the brain, said Shaun Frost, a doctoral student in the e-Health Research Center operated by the Australian national research organization CSIRO. At a press briefing here in advance of his formal presentation at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD), Frost said the retinal scans could be a relatively easy and cheap way to screen people for what many researchers regard as preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.
