How far reaches earliness of optical coherence tomography in cognitive impairment
*Correspondencia: Dr. Domingo Giménez Castejón. Servicio de Oftalmología. Hospital Universitario Santa Lucía. Mezquita, s/n. E-30202 Cartagena (Murcia).
E-mail: domingogimenez@gmail.com
Introduction. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the world today. Increasingly greater efforts are being made to be able to detect cognitive impairment in earlier stages, and diagnostic entities such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective memory complaints (SMC) are appearing. The number of biomarkers studied with the aim of reaching this goal continues to rise, and include optical coherence tomography.
Subjects and methods. The study conducted employed optical coherence tomography to measure the macular thickness and the retinal nerve fibre layer in patients diagnosed with AD (n = 36), in patients with MCI (n = 33), in individuals with SMC (n = 24) and in control subjects (n = 45).
Results. Statistically significant differences have been found in terms of the macular thickness among all the groups studied (SMC: 261.8 ± 25.88 μm; MCI: 259.19 ± 22.582 μm; mild AD: 258.53 ± 14.804 μm; moderate AD: 249.32 ± 18.467 μm) and control subjects (271.96 ± 15.57 μm). The same occurs as regards the retinal nerve fibre layer and the difference is statistically significant compared with the control group (94.51 ± 9.203 μm) of all the groups (SMC: 90.44 ± 9.059 μm; MCI: 89.4 ± 10.421 μm; mild AD: 87.12 ± 10.279 μm; moderate AD: 82.25 ± 10.636 μm).
Conclusion. Optical coherence tomography could be a future biomarker and support tool to facilitate the early diagnosis of cognitive impairment and AD.
Sujetos y métodos Se ha realizado un estudio que utiliza la tomografía de coherencia óptica para medir el grosor macular y la capa de fibras nerviosas de la retina en pacientes diagnosticados de EA (n = 36), pacientes con DCL (n = 33), en individuos con QSM (n = 24) y en sujetos control (n = 45).
Resultados Se han encontrado diferencias estadísticamente significativas en cuanto al grosor macular entre todos los grupos estudiados (QSM: 261,8 ± 25,88 µm; DCL: 259,19 ± 22,582 µm; EA leve: 258,53 ± 14,804 µm; EA moderada: 249,32 ± 18,467 µm) y sujetos control (271,96 ± 15,57 µm). Respecto a la capa de fibras nerviosas de la retina, ocurre de igual manera, y la diferencia es estadísticamente significativa frente al grupo control (94,51 ± 9,203 µm) de todos los grupos (QSM: 90,44 ± 9,059 µm; DCL: 89,4 ± 10,421 µm; EA leve: 87,12 ± 10,279 µm; EA moderada: 82,25 ± 10,636 µm).
Conclusión La tomografía de coherencia óptica podría situarse como un futuro biomarcador y una herramienta de apoyo para facilitar el diagnóstico precoz del deterioro cognitivo y de la EA.
