Key points:
- Capturing 3D images of the retina provides a new quick, non-invasive technique for monitoring kidney health.
- Patients with chronic kidney disease had thinner retinas compared with healthy volunteers and this thinning of the retina progressed as kidney function declined.
- In the future, regular eye checks may aid in early detection and monitoring to help prevent kidney disease from progressing and to allow patients to make lifestyle changes that reduce their risk.
A new study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that 3D eye scans reveal vital clues about kidney health and can track disease progression. Advanced eye monitoring may support earlier diagnoses than the current screening test options that rely on loss of kidney function.
Researchers used highly-magnified images to detect changes to the retina—the layer of tissue at the back of the eye that senses light and sends signals to the brain. These images provided a new quick and non-invasive method for monitoring kidney health.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) captured 3D images of the retina from 204 patients at different stages of kidney disease, including transplant patients, and 86 healthy volunteers.
Researchers found that patients with chronic kidney disease had thinner retinas compared to healthy volunteers. They also found that thinning of the retina progressed as kidney function declined. However, restoring kidney function following a successful transplant reversed the changes to the retina. Even patients with the most severe form of kidney disease experienced rapid thickening of their retinas after a kidney transplant.
In the future, regular eye checks may aid in early detection and monitoring to help prevent kidney disease from progressing. Eye monitoring may allow patients to make lifestyle changes that reduce the risk of health complications. Additionally, the OCT technology could contribute to the development of new drugs and therapies.
“We hope that this research, which shows that the eye is a useful window into the kidney, will help identify more people with early kidney disease,” said Neeraj (Bean) Dhaun, professor at the University of Edinburgh. “This provides an opportunity to start treatments before it progresses.”