Can you tell your kidney health by looking at your eyes?

A study has shown that changes in kidney function can be easily tracked using retinal imaging of the eye. The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the British scientific journal Nature Communications.

On the 7th (local time), the research team of Dr. Neraj Daun, a nephrologist at the Cardiovascular Science Center at the University of Edinburgh, UK, developed a method to diagnose kidney disease and track its progression using 3D imaging using optical coherence tomography (OCT), commonly used in ophthalmology. MedicalXpress reported that research results showed that it can be done.

Previously, OCT used light waves to create a cross-sectional image of the retina, showing the thin layers of nerve cells that make up the inner wall of the retina within a few minutes. The retina is the only area that shows the circulation of microvessels, the smallest blood vessels in the human body. If you have kidney disease, blood circulation through your microvasculature is affected.

Accordingly, the research team compared and analyzed OCT images of 204 patients with different stages of kidney disease, including those who had undergone kidney transplantation, and 86 healthy people without kidney disease.

As a result, it was found that patients with chronic kidney disease have thinner retinal walls. In addition, it was found that in patients with chronic kidney disease, the thickness of the inner retinal wall becomes thinner as kidney function declines.

In particular, in patients who had the most severe kidney disease and received a kidney transplant, the retinal lining thickness rapidly thinned immediately after the transplant surgery, while in patients whose kidney function recovered after kidney transplantation, the retinal lining thickness also returned to normal.

Dr Aislin McMahon, Director of Policy and Research at the British Society for Kidney Research, commented that this was a “fantastic” way to monitor kidney health very easily, and the research team said the results “could one day enable early detection and tracking of kidney disease using endoretinal imaging.” “The day will come when it will be possible to block the progression of kidney disease through observation,” he predicted.

The research team also explained that the new method will be able to determine whether the kidney responds to a new kidney disease treatment and, if so, how it responds through changes in retinal inner layer thickness.

In addition, this new method is expected to bring about a groundbreaking change in tracking the progression of kidney disease, which tends to progress without symptoms.

Experts advised that although it is difficult to detect with current testing methods until the kidneys have lost half of their function, early diagnosis may be possible with this technology.