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Retinal alterations in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: an optical coherence tomography study

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Abstract

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) measured by means of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has been used as a marker not only of ophthalmologic diseases but also of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The purpose of this work was to demonstrate that patients with amnestic MCI show an intermediate RNFL thickness between normality and AD, and a macular volume and thickness as well. In a cross-sectional study we consecutively recruited 18 patients with AD, 21 with MCI, and 41 healthy controls. OCT was performed in all of them to measure circumpapillary RNFL thickness in µm, as well as macular volume and thickness. In the analysis of variance we saw that RNFL was thinner in MCI patients compared with controls, and it was also thinner in AD patients compared with MCI patients and controls. With regard to the macular measurements in mm3, MCI patients had the greatest macular volume in comparison with AD patients and controls. In turn the controls had greater macular volume than AD patients. The decreased RNFL thickness in MCI and AD patients suggests loss of retinal neurons and their axons. The increased thickness and macular volume have never been reported before in aMCI. This finding could be explained by inflammation and/or gliosis in early stages of AD. OCT could be a useful marker of AD for early detection and monitoring progression.

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Conflicts of interest

On behalf of all authors the corresponding author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical standard

This work was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. It was approved by the local ethical committee. All persons included in the study gave their informed consent prior their inclusion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Clínico Universitario “Lozano Blesa”, Zaragoza, Spain

    Francisco J. Ascaso, Nancy Cruz & José A. Cristóbal

  2. Department of Neurology, Hospital Miguel Servet, ES-50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Pedro J. Modrego

  3. Ministry of Science and Innovation, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain

    Raul Lopez-Anton & Antonio Lobo

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Javier Santabárbara

  5. Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Zaragoza, Spain

    Luis F. Pascual

  6. Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Antonio Lobo

Authors
  1. Francisco J. Ascaso
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  2. Nancy Cruz
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  3. Pedro J. Modrego
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  4. Raul Lopez-Anton
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  5. Javier Santabárbara
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  6. Luis F. Pascual
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  7. Antonio Lobo
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  8. José A. Cristóbal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pedro J. Modrego.

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Ascaso, F.J., Cruz, N., Modrego, P.J. et al. Retinal alterations in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: an optical coherence tomography study. J Neurol 261, 1522–1530 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7374-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7374-z

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