Recently it was suggested that the instilling of tropicamide (an acetylcholine receptor antagonist) in the eye could be a simple diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's disease. The sensitivity was 95 percent and the specificity was 94 percent. However there might be several biological reasons, other than dementia, for a positive eye test and the predictive value of a positive test might be low even if the specificity and sensitivity should prove to be as high as in the presented pilot study.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
1. Scinto LFMDafner KR, Dressler D et at. A potential noninvasive neurobiological test for Alzheimer's disease. Science1994;266: 1051-1054.
2.
2. Barinaga M.Possible new test found for Alzheimer's disease. Science1994;266:973-973.
3.
3. Diagnostic testing: introduction to probability In: Ingelfinger JA, Mosteller F, Thibodeau LA et al. Biostatistics in clinical medicine. New York: Macmillan Publishing co. inc., 1987;1-24.
4.
4. Apt L and Henrick A. Pupillary dilatation with single eyedrop mydriatic combinationsAm J Ophthalmol1980;89:553-559.
5.
5. Gettes BC. Tropicamide: Comparative mydriatic effects. Am J Ophthalmology1963;55:84-87.
6.
6. Levine L. Tropicamide-induced mydriasis in densely pigmented eyes. Am J Optom Physiol Opt1983;60:673-677.
7.
7. Vuori ML, Kaila T, lisalo E et at Systemic absorption and anticholinergic activity of topically applied tropicamide. J Ocul Pharmacol1994; 10:431-437.