Londonderry opticians to offer Alzheimers tests?

At present diagnosis is based on memory tests and expensive brain scans. But research published by University College London shows a new technique may potentially be available in five years.

Waterside optician Ruth Bigger believes it can happen, and that with a slight tweak of current technology, she might be offering such a test regularly.

"That is the beauty of it. People can call in and get it done as part of a routine eye test."

She intends to carry out the test at her own opticians.

Ms Bigger says: "I have been aware of this for a few years now. The potential is there. You could have an early warning."

The new technique works by photographing the back of the eye, where damaged brain cells might be identified and measured. An eye drop is used to highlight the damaged cells and show if damaged brain cells are present. This can indicate Alzheimers disease.

Ruth Bigger explains: "With the right kind of imaging we would be able to look at where those little lewy bodies are. They would be in the retinal or brain tissue. The (eye) drop is there. It is about developing something that will photograph those little malformations. We are waiting on people to develop a piece of gear for it, an engineering firm or something. Sometimes all they need to do is change the software or fit a new camera on top."

Ms Bigger photographs the back of my eye to demonstrate how close current technology is to an Alzheimer's test:

"With this image here, if you zoom in this far we start to see a little pixellation. If this was live you could make out individual cells. It's already pretty zoomed in, it wouldn't take much more magnification to get right down to see those type of cells."

She explains the potential benefits of an early diagnosis: "It's the sort of thing that is very accessible, painless to do and inexpensive to do. If an easy test picked up early Alzheimer's, it could be treated and slowed down and it would seriously improve peoples overall health."

Michael McIvor of the Alzheimer's Society at Sevenoaks in the Crescent Link does not seem too optimistic about the potential test.

"I am not trying to pour cold water on this but it hasn't happened yet. We are trying to take a reasoned view. If you have already been diagnosed this wouldn't be much help to you anyway. So people shouldn't get their hopes up too high."

He adds: "There is no cure for Alzheimer's. The treatment does not work for everyone."

Ms Bigger says the new technique would be useful for the treatment of Alzheimer's: "You can apply treatments and see it and measure it. It means they can see the effects of the treatment."