
Could an Eye Doctor Diagnose Alzheimer’s Before You Have Symptoms? - Gys
https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news-listing/could-eye-doctor-diagnose-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-you-have-symptoms
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ConcernedCoder
Not mentioned is the problem with prions and eye examinations as a possible
infection route:

[https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/eyes-cjd-
patie...](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/eyes-cjd-patients-
show-evidence-prions)

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hihungryimdad
Definitely interested in this. I had my genome sequenced at 23andme and they
say I am at a higher risk for early onset Alzheimer's (My parents and
grandparents were/are fine) because I have the two mutations they test for.

Just last year I was diagnosed with glaucoma, at the ripe age of 32. So I go
to the eye doctor somewhat regularly now. Wonder if this is something I can
start keeping track of, for science, or something.

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gwbas1c
> sequenced at 23andme

Be careful. My wife, a geneticist, calls 23andme "for entertainment purposes
only."

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dumbmatter
In this specific case, they do test for the ApoE gene which can you a 20x
higher chance of getting Alzheimer's
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_E#Alzheimer's_d...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_E#Alzheimer's_disease)

20x more is not a sure thing, but for a disease like Alzheimer's that is
already pretty common (e.g. we're not talking about risk increasing from 0.01%
to 0.2%) it's more meaningful than just for entertainment purposes.

I agree with your wife that for most people their 23andme results will be
nothing more than entertainment, but there are a handful of truly meaningful
things it can find.

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est31
I've read that before there is tissue decay, which this test would be for,
there's a preceeding biochemical phase:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819840/figure/...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819840/figure/F2/)

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k_sze
The title is kinda wrong. Loss of blood vessel _is_ just yet another symptom.

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melling
Yes, however, finding an early symptom, particularly a decade early, would be
an incredible find.

If we could detect pancreatic cancer early, for example, would could go from a
7% survival to 90% rate.

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faceplanted
Can we not detect it early? Or do we just not run the tests?

Like if everyone got regular MRI scans (I know, expensive, but it's a
hypothetical) could we do the same thing?

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SolaceQuantum
As far as I understand it, the area of the pancreas can often be difficult to
detect cancer in- and particularly the area has a lot of space for
metastasis.(I’m not a trained medical professional so if my words are
contradicted by anyone who is, please ignore me entirely.)

I’m under the impression MRI scans have two main issues with them:

1\. A trained radiologist can still miss small tumors, and it is in fact quite
easy to miss them. The body is complicated and all sort stuff of weirdnesses
can occur that are not harmful.(eg. Benign tumors)

2\. It is possible that the discovery of a tumor doesn’t mean cancer. This was
a debate in breast cancer treatments- a lot of heartache and suffering can
occur from a cancer scare and there has been existing controversy regarding
early testing given this.

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carlmr
3\. Radiation from breast cancer scans can cause the breast cancer in the
first place:

[https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2480762/radiation-
induced...](https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2480762/radiation-induced-
breast-cancer-incidence-mortality-from-digital-mammography-screening)

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riahi
That study is entirely based off simulation with the ultimate data being
derived from survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki bonbings. We do not
categorically know if there is a linear, no threshhold relationship between
diagnostic radiation dose and cancer induction or if there is a threshhold
dose below which radiation dose is “safe”. We also don’t know if low-level
radiation is potentially beneficial (radiation Hormesis hypothesis).

That’s a lot of words to say, take that paper with a huge grain of salt.

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_Microft
Was the linear-no-threshold model not basically disproven by a study on people
who lived in buildings built with steel scavenged from the ruins of Hiroshima
or Nagasaki and therefore in an environment with elevated radioactive
background levels. They showed lower incidence of cancer if I remember
correctly?

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nareiber
Anyone in the field know if lattice degeneration would be considered 'loss of
blood vessels in the retina' this study is looking for?

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lugg
Type 3 diabetes.

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echelon
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, other than perhaps the terseness of
your response. There is research that hypothesizes that Alzheimer's is like
diabetes in that it manifests itself as a dysfunction of insulin/glucose
regulation.

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whatshisface
Yes, the symptom described in the article is congruent with the diabetic
theory because loss of small blood vessels is also a symptom of diabetes.

