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. 2025 Jun;105(3):697-713.
doi: 10.1177/13872877251331231. Epub 2025 Apr 21.

Diagnosing neurodegenerative disorders using retina as an external window: A systematic review of OCT-MRI correlations

Fei Wu  1   2   3 , Caroline Dallaire-Théroux  2   3   4 , Élodie Michaud  3 , Frédéric Bergeron  5 , Monica Lavoie  1 , Jean-Paul Soucy  6 , Ali Dirani  3   7 , Robert Jr Laforce  1   2   3
Affiliations

Diagnosing neurodegenerative disorders using retina as an external window: A systematic review of OCT-MRI correlations

Fei Wu et al. J Alzheimers Dis. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

BackgroundRecent studies have explored optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-angiography (OCT-A) as biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, correlations between OCT/OCT-A and neurodegeneration metrics remain underexplored.ObjectiveWe performed a systematic review of OCT/OCT-A and structural brain imaging using MRI across various neurodegenerative disorders.MethodsWe searched Medline, Embase, and various other databases from January to June 2023 using keywords regarding neurodegenerative conditions and OCT/OCT-A. Out of 2962 citations. 93 articles were reviewed, and 28 met our inclusion criteria.ResultsLayer-or-region-specific retinal metrics were the most promising for non-vascular neurodegeneration, while vascular retinal parameters had the unique capacity to reflect vascular lesions. Both types of biomarkers correlated with global brain atrophy. Microstructural brain alterations best correlated with layer-specific thinning of retina.ConclusionsA better understanding of associations between retinal and brain lesions could eventually lead to the clinical application of retinal biomarkers for the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative conditions.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; cognitive decline; correlation; diffusion tensor imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; neurodegeneration; optical coherence tomography; optical coherence tomography – angiography; retinal biomarker; vascular dementia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Caroline Dallaire-Théroux is an Editorial Board Member of this journal but was not involved in the peer-review process of this article nor had access to any information regarding its peer-reviewJean-Paul Soucy collaborated on the preclinical studies at Optina Diagnostics from 2015 to July 2024. This company manufactures a retinal scanner that detects the presence of amyloid in the retina through reflectance. The technique is not the same as OCT but aims to achieve the same clinical goals. The company has no rights to review or restrict his publications on this topic or any other topic. He was previously compensated by the company for interpreting PET scans of amyloid plaques, but that contract has now ended.The remaining authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram representing different phases of this systematic review (automatically generated by Covidence).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic representation of retinal layers.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Sectorial representation of OCT/OCTA – MRI correlations†.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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