Vision problems may be the first symptoms leading to an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a team of researchers.
- Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), or Benson syndrome, is a form of neurodegenerative disease that primarily manifests as visual and spatial disturbances. This condition is most often linked to Alzheimer’s disease (94%), but the patient’s memory abilities remain intact for a long time.
- Because the first symptoms are visual, most people with PCa first turn to ophthalmologists, who are not always able to recognize the pathology. Patients therefore remain undiagnosed until signs of memory decline appear within a year or two after the first visual symptoms.
- A new study suggests that, detected early, these visual symptoms could help predict the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and treat it more quickly.
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), or Benson syndrome, is a form of neurodegenerative disease that primarily manifests as visual and spatial disturbances. Unlike Alzheimer’s patients, who first have memory problems, “PCa patients have difficulty judging distances, distinguishing between moving and stationary objects, and performing tasks such as writing or driving, despite normal vision”.
Detected early, these visual and spatial symptoms could nevertheless predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the journal The Lancet Neurology.
Posterior cortical atrophy and its visual disturbances predict Alzheimer’s disease by 94%
To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of California in San Francisco (United States) examined the records of 1,092 people with PCa from 16 countries and found that on average, the syndrome begins to affect patients at the age of 59. That is, five to six years earlier than most patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease – which explains why PCa is only diagnosed on average 3.8 years after the first symptoms appear.
At the time of diagnosis, 61% of them showed a “constructive dyspraxia”, that is, an inability to copy or construct simple diagrams or figures; 49% had a “spatial perception deficit”, difficulty identifying the location of something they saw; and 48% suffered from “simultanagnosia”, an inability to visually perceive more than one object at a time. In addition, 47% encountered problems with basic mathematical calculations, and 43% with reading.
“PCA overwhelmingly predicts Alzheimer’s disease, can we read in a communicated. Some 94% of patients with PCa had Alzheimer’s disease and the remaining 6% suffered from conditions [neurodégénératives] such as Lewy body disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.”
Recognizing posterior cortical atrophy to make the correct diagnosis
Because the first symptoms are visual, most people with PCa first turn to ophthalmologists, who are not always able to recognize the pathology. Undiagnosed, many patients end up showing signs of memory decline within a year or two after the first visual symptoms… Considering vision problems as warning signs of Alzheimer’s, it would therefore be possible to detect and treat the disease early.
“It is essential, conclude the researchers, “That doctors learn to recognize PCa syndrome so that patients can receive the correct diagnosis.” And therefore the right care, starting with treatments to improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
