A new simple eye test — developed by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the Western Eye Hospital and funded by global charitable foundation Wellcome — is capable of showing doctors individual nerve cell death in the back of the eye, potentially helping to diagnose patients with glaucoma up to 10 year earlier than is currently possible.
According to researchers, the new technique, called DARC (detection of apoptosing retinal cells), uses a specially-developed fluorescent marker that attaches to cell proteins when injected into a patient. This causes damaged retinal cells to appear as white fluorescent spots during an eye exam.
Researchers believe the new test also has the potential for early diagnosis of other degenerative neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.
The research was recently published in the journal, BRAIN.
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