Hemianopia in posterior cortical atrophy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A psychophysical and functional imaging study of homonymous hemianopia in posterior cortical atrophy
IRAS ID
126349
Contact name
Gordon Plant
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Research summary
Posterior Cortical Atrophy is often considered a variant of Alzheimer`s disease, where the brain areas responsible for vision (visual cortex) are affected first, and sometimes, for several years before patients start having trouble remembering things. Patients complain of difficult seeing, although no problem can be found on his/her eyes to account for it. Some of them show impairment of vision more marked in one half of their visual field (partial hemianopia). Although all of the visual problems result from the loss of neurons in the visual cortex, the exact location of the lesion in the brain and the mechanism leading to the deficit are not known. Furthermore,it is not clear why some patients develop visual field loss and others do not. In this study, we will perform brain imaging to look at the visual areas of patients suffering from posterior cortical atrophy, and ascertain whether there have been any changes in structure, function and/or connectivity that could explain this phenomenon. To assess the visual field and characterize the pattern of loss, we will perform visual field tests. We are also interested to know whether the disease affects the retina, as loss of retinal neurons has been reported both in Alzheimer's disease and in patients with hemianopia from other causes (such as stroke). To answer this question, we will perform optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the retina to measure the thickness of its nerve fibre layer.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0264
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion