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protein assay, 24 of 25 Parkinson's disease patients were diagnosed, confirming to the research team that the diagnostic test is both sensitive and accurate. With this accuracy, clinicians are better positioned to make Parkinson's disease diagnoses early and develop disease-modif ying treatment options to slow progression and enhance function and quality of life. " You might not expect skin to have biomarkers for brain disease. It is amazing for us to see this correlation," Kanthasamy says. "The results of this research pro- vide an encouraging opportunity to test patients with possible Parkinson's disease. You can simply get a skin sample like a dermatologist might take — 3 to 5 mil- limeters — and perform a test that is not difficult to process ... This test would also be much more convenient for patients." VISUALIZING A NEW DIAGNOSTIC STRATEGY I n a dd it ion t o t he sk i n cel l sa mple approach to early diagnosis of Parkinson's disea se, a not her st udy published in JA M A Ophthalmology examines how Parkinson's disease may cause changes in the eyes that are detectable by non- invasive retina l imaging pa ra meters from optica l coherence tomog raphy angiography and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography. The cross-sectional study, conducted at the Duke Neurological Disorders Clinic in Durham, North Carolina, looked at the eyes of 69 individuals with Parkinson's disease and 137 age- and sex-matched participants with no neurological dis- ease. All study participants were age 50 or older. The Parkinson's disease participants had reduced perfusion densities a nd retinal vessel. They also demonstrated greater choroid luminal area and total choroida l a rea . Compa red w it h t he hea lthy control patients, they showed minimized choroidal vascularity index. The results of the study indicate that this type of noninvasive retinal imaging can potentially identify structural changes related to Parkinson's disease and could be a valuable biomarker for diagnosis of the condition. ■ M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 0 2 2 1 9