Samuel Gibbon, Graciela Muniz-Terrera, Fabian S. L. Yii, Charlene Hamid, Simon Cox, Ian J. C. Maccormick, Andrew J. Tatham, Craig Ritchie, Emanuele Trucco, Baljean Dhillon, Thomas J. MacGillivray
Neuro-ophthalmology (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.13.5.20
Summary
In dementia, nerve cells in the brain called neurons stop functioning properly, lose connections with other neurons, and eventually die prematurely. The eye is a window into the human body where we can easily study the nerves of the retina which might reflect the health and condition of similar, but less accessible, tissues in the brain. In this paper we explain how we have developed software that quantifies the appearance of the optic nerve head in fundus images as a marker of loss of nerve tissue that makes this feature appear lighter and paler. Our technique could potentially become a straightforward test to monitor for change over time and spot people most at risk of developing dementia later in life. In turn, this could help target the recruitment of clinical trials of new treatments at the most suitable individuals.