A new scientific study has revealed that 3D eye scans commonly used in eye clinics and optical shops can potentially detect signs of Parkinson’s disease about seven years before clinical symptoms appear. This study is expected to have a significant impact in the field of healthcare. So, how will Parkinson’s disease be detected through eye scanning?

Early diagnosis advantage for Parkinson’s disease is achieved with OCT

Using eye data to diagnose health conditions is not a new concept in the medical field. However, in recent years, advancements in eye health monitoring technology and computational power have expanded the scope of diagnoses. A type of 3D scanning known as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has been a key to this progress.

OCT scanning captures a cross-section of the retina with extraordinary detail, down to one-thousandth of a millimeter, in less than a minute. Scanning the retina in this way is the only non-invasive method to observe cell layers beneath the surface of the skin. As part of the study, a research team from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London used artificial intelligence to analyze OCT scans from two large databases.

The results confirmed that there are distinct data visible in Parkinson’s patients that can be clearly differentiated. While further research is needed, lead author Dr. Siegfried Wagner is hopeful that the method could soon become a pre-screening tool for individuals at risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Wagner stated on the matter, “Finding signs of a disease before symptoms emerge could mean that people have time to make lifestyle changes to prevent the condition from developing in the future, and doctors could work on therapies to slow down the progression of the disease.”

The group, led by senior author Professor Pearse Keane, was awarded funding by UK Research and Innovation to scale and validate the core model. The team’s future plans also include studying Alzheimer’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).