title: Retinal nerve fiber layer abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) photographs from 26 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 23 normal, age-matched, control subjects were reviewed for quality and abnormalities by two observers. A higher proportion of Alzheimer's patients showed RNFL abnormalities when compared to control subjects. There was some disagreement between the two observers regarding quality and frequency of abnormalities, reflecting suboptimal quality of the photographs obtained in patients with advanced Alzheimer's disease. Although these findings add to the clinical and histopathological evidence that ganglion cell degeneration occurs in Alzheimer's disease, the difficulty in obtaining and evaluating retinal nerve fiber layer photographs, especially in advanced cases, may limit the clinical usefulness of retinal nerve fiber layer analysis in such patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Tufts University, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hedges
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perez Galves
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Speigelman
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Barbas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peli
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Yardley
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D010781:Photography; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*