Value proposition of retinal imaging in Alzheimer's disease screening: A review of eight evolving trends

Victor T T Chan; An Ran Ran; Siegfried K Wagner; Herbert Y H Hui; Xiaoyan Hu; Ho Ko; Sharon Fekrat; Yaxing Wang; Cecilia S Lee; Alvin L Young; Clement C Tham; Yih Chung Tham; Pearse A Keane; Dan Milea; Christopher Chen; Tien Yin Wong; Vincent C T Mok; Carol Y Cheung

doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2024.101290

Value proposition of retinal imaging in Alzheimer's disease screening: A review of eight evolving trends

Prog Retin Eye Res. 2024 Aug 22:103:101290. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2024.101290. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Victor T T Chan¹, An Ran Ran², Siegfried K Wagner³, Herbert Y H Hui², Xiaoyan Hu², Ho Ko⁴, Sharon Fekrat⁵, Yaxing Wang⁶, Cecilia S Lee⁷, Alvin L Young¹, Clement C Tham², Yih Chung Tham⁸, Pearse A Keane³, Dan Milea⁹, Christopher Chen¹⁰, Tien Yin Wong¹¹, Vincent C T Mok⁴, Carol Y Cheung¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ NIHR Biomedical Research Center at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK.
⁴ Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; Gerald Choa Neuroscience Institute, Margaret K.L. Cheung Research Centre for Management of Parkinsonism, Therese Pei Fong Chow Research Centre for Prevention of Dementia, Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Science, Lau Tat-chuen Research Centre of Brain Degenerative Diseases in Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁵ Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁶ Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Ophthalmology and Visual Science Key Lab, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital University of Medical Science, Beijing, China.
⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
⁹ Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore.
¹⁰ Memory Aging & Cognition Centre, National University Health System, Singapore; Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
¹¹ Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
¹² Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. Electronic address: carolcheung@cuhk.edu.hk.

PMID: 39173942
DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2024.101290

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. Current diagnostic modalities of AD generally focus on detecting the presence of amyloid β and tau protein in the brain (for example, positron emission tomography [PET] and cerebrospinal fluid testing), but these are limited by their high cost, invasiveness, and lack of expertise. Retinal imaging exhibits potential in AD screening and risk stratification, as the retina provides a platform for the optical visualization of the central nervous system in vivo, with vascular and neuronal changes that mirror brain pathology. Given the paradigm shift brought by advances in artificial intelligence and the emergence of disease-modifying therapies, this article aims to summarize and review the current literature to highlight 8 trends in an evolving landscape regarding the role and potential value of retinal imaging in AD screening.

Publication types

Review