Eye test for Alzheimer’s disease

'This exciting study uses a new imaging technique which has enormous potential as a relatively inexpensive and non-evasive way to chart the growth of amyloid, the protein at the core of the plaques which develop in the brain in a person with dementia.

The innovative technique to look at amyloid using a laser eye scan is potentially very interesting, but we are long way from eye scans being regularly used to diagnose someone with dementia. We have known for a while that the proteins that are found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease are also seen in the eye, but more research is needed to show exactly how the amount of protein in the eye relates to development of dementia.

It is vital that cheap and reliable tools are developed to help us understand the damage dementia causes to the brain. We will follow this research with interest.'

Professor Clive Ballard
Director of Research