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Oogziekten tasten ook de hersenen aan*
Uit twee studies blijkt dat oogziekten zoals glaucoom, macula degeneratie en retinopathie niet alleen de ogen doch ook de hersenen aantast. Retinopathie veroorzaakt volgens de Amerikaanse studie ook flink meer schade aan de bloedvaten in de hersenen waardoor de cognitieve functies ook nog eens duidelijk minder kunnen worden.

Bij glaucoom en macula degeneratie moet meer aandacht aan de hersenen besteed worden. De kans op herstel van het gezichtsvermogen wordt daarmee mogelijk vergroot, stelt promovendus Aditya Hernowo.
Met MRI-onderzoek bracht Hernowo de hersenen van patiënten met deze oogziekten in kaart. Hij stelt vast dat het volume van de visuele banen bij patiënten met glaucoom en macula degeneratie is aangetast. Visuele banen zijn die delen van de hersenen waardoor visuele informatie wordt doorgegeven, voordat ze verwerkt worden. 
Visuele banen
Wanneer macula degeneratie op jonge leeftijd begint, zijn de visuele banen ernstiger aangetast dan wanneer de ziekte op latere leeftijd begint. Bij glaucoom geldt hoe ernstiger de ziekte, hoe groter het verlies van volume van de visuele banen. 
Wanneer de visuele banen zijn aangetast, is er wellicht minder kans op herstel van gezichtsvermogen, zo stelt Hernowo. Hij beveelt aan meer aandacht te besteden aan de hersenen en hoopt dat er manieren worden gevonden om zenuwcellen in de hersenen te beschermen tegen beschadiging.
Aditya Hernowo promoveerde op zijn proefschrift 'Visual pathway morphometry in visual field defects'. 
Een samenvatting
Bron: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Eye Health Is Related to Brain Health
People with mild vascular disease that causes damage to the retina in the eye are more likely to have problems with thinking and memory skills because they may also have vascular disease in the brain, according to a study published in the online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Damage to the retina is called retinopathy. In the study, the damage was mild enough to not cause significant symptoms.
"Problems with the tiny blood vessels in the eye may be a sign that there are also problems with the blood vessels in the brain that can lead to cognitive problems," said study author Mary Haan, DrPH, MPH, of the University of California, San Francisco. "This could be very useful if a simple eye screening could give us an early indication that people might be at risk of problems with their brain health and functioning."
The study involved 511 women with an average age of 69. The women took tests of their thinking and memory skills every year for up to 10 years. Their eye health was tested about four years into the study and scans were taken of their brains about eight years into the study.
A total of 39 women, or 7.6 percent, had retinopathy. The women with retinopathy on average had lower scores on the cognitive tests than the women who did not have retinopathy. The women with retinopathy also had more areas of small vascular damage within the brain, with 47 percent larger volumes of areas of damage than women who did not have retinopathy. In the parietal lobe of the brain, the women with retinopathy had 68 percent larger volumes of areas of damage.
The results remained the same even after adjusting for high blood pressure and diabetes, which can be a factor in vascular issues in the eye and the brain.
On a test of visual acuity, the women with retinopathy had similar scores as the women without the disease.
The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and the National Institute on Aging. (Mei 2012)