Researchers have potentially made major progress in improving Parkinson’s diagnosis – all through a basic eye test.
Around 145,000 people in the UK live with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson’s UK says.
This affects over 1 million people, however, when taking into account repercussions for families, friends and colleagues.
Currently there is no test which enables clinicians to conclusively diagnose the condition; with the patient’s medical history and symptoms typically being assessed.
This is why the new research from the University of Florida could be so vital.
Its study used a basic eye exam to assess the vascular condition of the retina (the thin layer of tissue covering the back of the eye) in both PD patients and a control group. Previous research has shown that PD can cause decay in the retina and shrink the surrounding blood vessels, potentially leading to sight loss in some cases.
Researchers then used an AI system called ‘support vector machine (SVM) learning’ which was able to successfully identify which images were from PD patients and which ones were from a control group.
Lead author Maximilian Diaz said: “The single most important finding of this study was that a brain disease was diagnosed with a basic picture of the eye. This is very different from traditional approaches where to find a problem with the brain you look at different brain images.”
The traditional approaches Diaz is referring to are that of MRI or CT scans, which are usually looked at when dealing with most neurological conditions.
These are often expensive compared to the eye scans featured in this study, which uses equipment that is easily accessible for all healthcare professionals.
The images of the eye can even be taken by a mobile phone if equipped with a special camera lens.
Also, the AI system used is also easily attainable as it has been used by clinicians for other purposes since 1989.
“It’s just a simple picture of the eye, you can have it done in less than a minute, and the cost of the equipment is much less than a CT or MRI machine,” Diaz said.
The findings of this study are not limited to helping PD patients, they could also be applied to potentially give an early diagnosis for other neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Indeed Diaz does see the future potential of the findings.
“If we can make this a yearly screening, then the hope is that we can catch more cases sooner, which can help us better understand the disease and find a cure or a way to slow the progression,” Diaz said.
