Objective To explore retinal changes in patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) using Spectral Domain-Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA), aiming to identify potential biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring. Methods A cross-sectional study analyzed 15 DLB patients and 18 matched controls. Participants underwent physical, neurological, neuropsychological, and ophthalmological evaluations, including SD-OCT and OCTA. Logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, and inter-eye correlation, was employed to identify retinal alterations in patients affected by DLB. Results OCTA revealed that DLB is associated with reduced superficial and deep vessel densities (SVD and DVD) in the macula (p < 0.01), as well as decreased peripapillary vessel density (ppVD, p < 0.01). SD-OCT parameters showed correlations with DLB, including reduced central macular thickness (CMT, p < 0.001) and thinning of the ganglion cell layer-inner plexiform layer (GCL-IPL, p < 0.01). Logistic regression (R²=0.26) identified reduced ppVD as a significant predictor of DLB (p = 0.030). Conclusions Impairments in retinal capillaries, especially lower ppVD, might mirror cerebral hypoperfusion in DLB, potentially due to reduced Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) levels and increased α-synuclein. Further investigations are warranted to confirm the causal relationship between these observations, disease severity, and progression, as well as their potential role as biomarkers for DLB.

Neuroretinal and microvascular retinal features in dementia with Lewy body assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography / Albanese, GIUSEPPE MARIA; Gharbiya, Magda; Visioli, Giacomo; Panigutti, Massimiliano; Margarella, Andrea; Romano, Enrico; Mastrogiuseppe, Elvia; Sepe-Monti, Micaela; Bruno, Giuseppe; D'Antonio, Fabrizia. - In: NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES. - ISSN 1590-3478. - 46:1(2025), pp. 185-194. [10.1007/s10072-024-07683-6]

Neuroretinal and microvascular retinal features in dementia with Lewy body assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography

Giuseppe Maria Albanese
Primo
Project Administration
;
Magda Gharbiya
Secondo
Supervision
;
Giacomo Visioli
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Massimiliano Panigutti
Visualization
;
Andrea Margarella
Investigation
;
Enrico Romano
Data Curation
;
Elvia Mastrogiuseppe
Data Curation
;
Micaela Sepe-Monti
Investigation
;
Giuseppe Bruno
Penultimo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Fabrizia D'Antonio
Ultimo
Conceptualization
2025

Abstract

Objective To explore retinal changes in patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) using Spectral Domain-Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA), aiming to identify potential biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring. Methods A cross-sectional study analyzed 15 DLB patients and 18 matched controls. Participants underwent physical, neurological, neuropsychological, and ophthalmological evaluations, including SD-OCT and OCTA. Logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, and inter-eye correlation, was employed to identify retinal alterations in patients affected by DLB. Results OCTA revealed that DLB is associated with reduced superficial and deep vessel densities (SVD and DVD) in the macula (p < 0.01), as well as decreased peripapillary vessel density (ppVD, p < 0.01). SD-OCT parameters showed correlations with DLB, including reduced central macular thickness (CMT, p < 0.001) and thinning of the ganglion cell layer-inner plexiform layer (GCL-IPL, p < 0.01). Logistic regression (R²=0.26) identified reduced ppVD as a significant predictor of DLB (p = 0.030). Conclusions Impairments in retinal capillaries, especially lower ppVD, might mirror cerebral hypoperfusion in DLB, potentially due to reduced Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) levels and increased α-synuclein. Further investigations are warranted to confirm the causal relationship between these observations, disease severity, and progression, as well as their potential role as biomarkers for DLB.
2025
dementia with lewy bodies (DLB); retinal changes; optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA); retinal biomarkers; retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL); peripapillary vessel density (ppVD); vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); neurodegenerative diseases
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Neuroretinal and microvascular retinal features in dementia with Lewy body assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography / Albanese, GIUSEPPE MARIA; Gharbiya, Magda; Visioli, Giacomo; Panigutti, Massimiliano; Margarella, Andrea; Romano, Enrico; Mastrogiuseppe, Elvia; Sepe-Monti, Micaela; Bruno, Giuseppe; D'Antonio, Fabrizia. - In: NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES. - ISSN 1590-3478. - 46:1(2025), pp. 185-194. [10.1007/s10072-024-07683-6]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1717266
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