ENHANCED MIOTIC RESPONSE TO TOPICAL DILUTE PILOCARPINE IN PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

To determine whether miotic response to dilute (0.0625%, two drops) to pical pilocarpine could be useful in detecting Alzheimer's disease (AD ), we assessed the response in 14 AD patients and 10 control subjects. The miotic response to pilocarpine was significantly greater in AD pa tients than in control subjects (p < 0.001). In contrast, mydriatic re sponse to the anticholinergic tropicamide (0.01%, one drop) failed to show a difference between the groups (p = 0.54). There was no signific ant correlation between the miotic and mydriatic responses in individu als. We conclude that dilute pilocarpine could be useful as a diagnost ic tool in early AD.