The simple ‘Vampire’ eye test that could reveal the presence of Alzheimer’s

Researchers are investigating whether a simple eye test could be used to identify the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. A three-year £1.1 million project will look at whether warning signs can be detected using special computer software to analyse high-definition images of the eye. Evidence suggests that changes in the patterns of ocular veins and arteries can be linked to other disease such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. A team at Scotland’s University of Dundee’s school of computing in the UK have developed the software - known as Vampire - with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh.

There is the promise of early warning in a non-invasive way and there is also the fact that we even might be able to use the test to differentiate between different types of dementia.

Project co-ordinator Emanuele Trucco

Project co-ordinator Emanuele Trucco, professor of computational vision at the University of Dundee, said: “If you can look into someone’s eyes using an inexpensive machine and discover something which may suggest a risk of developing dementia, then that’s a very interesting proposition.” Researchers will compare measurements of thousands of images with medical histories stored at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital to see if a relationship can be established.

When changes occur in some parts of the body, you can see differences in the retinal vessels, e.g. in width, some vessels become thinner; some become larger; differences in the tortuosity, or how wriggly the vessels become; there are also differences in the angles when vessels split in two.

Project co-ordinator Emanuele Trucco

Science eye test