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Regarding Alzheimer's research, it is always encouraging to hear when there is something you can do (or avoid doing it) Reduce your risk . However, some things in life are out of our control, including vision problems - and if you do not believe that your eye prescription or your 20/20 vision play a role in the health of the brain, you are mistaken. In a new study, a team of international researchers led by the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) has examined visual problems which can be some of the first signs of Alzheimer, noting that 94% of patients had the same problems.

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The study , which was published in Lancet neurology On January 22, it was "the first large -scale study of posterior cortical atrophy" (PCA), according to a press release on January 22. After studying 1,092 patients from 36 sites in 16 countries, the researchers concluded that the PCA - a Brain and nervous system syndrome This causes problems with the view and processing of visual information - "predicts Alzheimer's massively".

The ACP can lead to difficulties in judging distance, to determine which objects move in relation to motionless, and to finish tasks such as writing or collecting an element that you have abandoned. And he may not even appear on an examination of the normal view, author of the study Marianne Chapleau , PHD, of the UCSF neurology department, the Center for Memory and Aging and the Weill Institute for Neuroscience, in the press release.

In total, 94% of PCA study participants had an Alzheimer's pathology, while the other 6% showed Lewy body disease and a frontotemporal lobaire degeneration. This is an impressive observation, as other studies that have examined patients with memory loss have found that only 70% of these patients have a pathology of Alzheimer's.

Researchers found that patients with PCA had normal cognition when they started to show APC symptoms, generally 59 years. Signs of dementia.

"We need more awareness of ACP so that it can be reported by clinicians," Chapleau said in the press release. "Most patients see their optometrist when they start to feel visual symptoms and can be referred to an ophthalmologist who may also not recognize the PCA. We need better clinical tools to identify these patients very early and Make them a treatment. "

When diagnosed with ACP, 61% of patients could not copy or build diagrams or basic figures (construction dyspraxia), 49% were unable to determine the location of Something they say (space perception deficit), and 48% could not visually perceive more than one element at a time (simultanagnosia), the press release said. About half of the participants also fought against basic mathematics (47%) and reading (43%).

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Compared to patients with Alzheimer's, those with PCA also had similar levels of harmful amyloid and tau plates, but they are in a different part of the brain. This means that people with APC could be candidates for anti-amyloid treatments, who are generally given to the first phases of Alzheimer's disease, co-prime author Renaud Joy , PHD, also of the UCSF neurology department and the center of memory and aging, said in the press release.

"PCA patients have more tau pathology in the posterior parts of the brain, involved in the processing of visuospatial information, compared to that with other Alzheimer's presentations. This could make them better suited to anti-slat therapies "Said joy.

Although people with ACP are generally not involved in clinical trials, UCSF experts envisage treatments for these patients and patients whose memories are not affected, added joy.

Overall, researchers note that it is important to understand and recognize the APC so that patients receive an intervention as soon as possible. But in terms of how the condition is linked to Alzheimer's disease, it is still not entirely clear.

"From a scientific point of view, we must really understand why Alzheimer specifically targets visual areas rather than the memory of the brain", author of the senior study Gil Rabinovici , MD, director of UCSF Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said in the statement. "Our study revealed that 60% of PCA patients were women - an understanding of the reason why they seem to be more sensitive is an important area of future research."

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