Parkinson's disease is a very serious, incurable medical condition that affects a persons motor skills. It typically begins with a tremor, stiffness, and slow movement of the hands, and may progress to very serious disability and dementia. Though there is currently no cure for Parkinson's, early detection can lead to a better chance of stalling the symptoms with early drug and therapy treatment.
Researchers at MIT have designed software that can help detect these symptoms early on, and can even monitor the progression of the disease as the person uses their device from day to day. These symptoms have been difficult to measure quantitatively, which makes it more difficult for doctors to accurately treat their patients without close, lengthy observation. The software works by measuring the time taken to press and release a key- which for an average healthy individual is usually consistently around 100 milliseconds- and analyzes that data to decide if the user is taking an abnormal amount of time pressing the keys or has a large fluctuation in times. This, in theory, may indicate stiffness or slow movement of hands which are key signs of Parkinson's. More often than not, this software would be used on already-diagnosed individuals to monitor the progression of their disease. If the data seems to indicate a fluctuation of symptoms, doctors may be able to use this information to adjust treatment plans. The software was tested with both healthy individuals (the control group) and those with an early stage of Parkinson's. The results showed that, as hypothesized, the healthy individuals were consistent with time taken to press a key while those with Parkinson's had varied data.
4 million people worldwide suffer from this disease, which means that this new method of early detection is incredibly sought after and vital to improving the quality of life for so many. With quantitative data available to neurologists treating Parkinson's patients, they may be able to more accurately treat their symptoms and collect research that may lead to an improved medication or even a cure.
Sources:
- https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/media/monitoring-parkinsons-symptoms-home
- http://www.orionpharma.co.uk/Products-and-Services-Orion/Parkinsons-disease/10-facts-about-Parkinsons-disease/
Images:
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Computer_keyboard.png
- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCXvIUfDI-2NCAU2SztGKCT3VQhH7-8YeeX5TQG7uyWTf8tdmoGIlvB1qyEGpF_KWWmTWQVIhw2qXl1n5WCjYofCup7Pr8LbbJ2rzKTBUHDJtqJppSQ1CbgAMp1M-l3hg1wqOW-OucLY/s1600/parkinson.png
I have heard of Parkinson disease from my dad and I have seen the patients with Parkinson symptoms. It's really hard to believe that computer science could be such helpful for the medical treatments. It's very necessary for doctors to find out the symptoms earlier so this software would help a lot in this region. If this software can really work , it would be a great progress in both fields of CS and Medical.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is another breakthrough in medical science. Hopefully, by being able to detect early symptoms, they can design a way to contain the disease or event cure it.
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan, thanks for the informative blog! This device is definitely helpful! And not just for Parkinson, but I think it can also be used for other similar movement disorders like mltiple system atrophy or lewy-body disease.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we might need to account for a small marginal error of those who don't have Parkinson disease, but just habitually type with a varied rate (especially people not used to technology).