Dr. Keith L. Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has developed an eye test that could help patients understand their risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The non-invasive, 15-minute test could be available as early as the second half of 2016, he says in a new video released by Cedars-Sinai today. Black and his team focused on looking at amyloid plaques in the retina. Amyloid plaques are a major hallmark of Alzheimer's and the retina is part of the central nervous system, which is affected by the plaque buildup.
There are currently 5 million people in the United States with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. That number is going to go to 20 or 30 million by the year 2050, experts project.
The number of Arizonans with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to grow by 66.7 percent by 2025, a greater rate than any other state except Alaska, U.S. Census figures show.
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In the video, Black also demonstrates how a healthy lifestyle might offer some protection from the disease.
Black, who is director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, developed the retinal imaging device to detect amyloid plaque buildup in the brain. The device currently is in clinical trials in the U.S. and Australia.
"The diagnostic tests we have currently detect the changes in the brain only after the disease is advanced," Black said in a news release. "We hope our test enables us to detect changes in the retina, which is in the back of the brain, years before the symptoms appear."
"The gift of time would enable those at risk to make lifestyle changes that could change the course of the disease."
Black says an individual’s lifestyle — including diet, exercise and sleep — can play a significant role in whether people develop Alzheimer’s. In the video, Black shows how he modified his lifestyle after his mother, died from the disease in 2012.
"When we ask someone to make a lifestyle change, it’s not easy. You have to have a motivation. My motivation was watching my mother die of Alzheimer’s disease," Black said. "But also knowing the scientific facts that if I modified my lifestyle, I could modify my future."
Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear when people are in their mid-60s, the National Institute on Aging says.
