EU - FP 7: DiPAR - Diagnosing Parkinson's Disease by neuromuscular function evaluation
Funding period: 01.12.2010-30.09.2014
Participant Organisations: 7
Project funding: 1.500.000 Euro
EU-Project: CORDIS
The objectives of the EU project are the (early) detection of Parkinson's disease and the evaluation of the disease status as well as the differentiation between ParkinsonÕs and other tremor diseases with neuromotor impairments by developing and using a functional biomarker. Involved are 7 partners from 5 EU countries (Germany, England, Finland, Netherlands, Spain). The project is funded with 1.4 million pound from the European Union over 46 months.
ParkinsonÕs disease is often diagnosed at a late stage. Thus, it occurs most frequently in people as of the age of 60, but any age class can be affected. Parkinson's is a chronic, degenerative and incurable disease. The quality of life can only be improved by symptom-improving therapeutic measures and symptom-relieving medications. The existing diagnostic systems could be optimized in terms of early detection and status review. This can help to design a more suitable treatment plan and to delay the progress of the disease. This enhances the quality of life of those affected persons, reduces the cost of diagnosis and medication and shortens the waiting time of the patients on the diagnosis considerably.
For the medical diagnosis of tremor disorders handwriting analysis is used. Thereby, patients have to write specific strings (for example: "elelelel") or paint figures like spirals and circles. On the basis of the specimen of handwritings, the typical features of Parkinson's - bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor - are analyzed within the project and a new, functional biomarker is developed, which can complement molecular biological and other diagnoses. Using a hand-held diagnostic device, which consists of a digital diagnostic pen (functional biomarker), a tablet and software, the multivariate data can be recorded. Pattern Expert analyzes this data with self-learning algorithms and developes an intelligent Decision Support System to complement the diagnostic software.
The following images are an example of such a specimen of handwriting. Image A shows the requirement and image B the repeated execution of a patient with Temor:
After a short time, the diagnosis can be made if the patient is healthy or ill to Parkinson's disease or another tremor as well as the degree of damage. The implementation of pre-clinical studies should validate the effectiveness of the patented diagnostic system. In addition, a system for the secure exchange of information between hospitals and health centers is designed to support further researches and the related data collection.
Within the research project Pattern Expert can build on his experiences in Pattern Recognition and analysis of multivariate data, achieve meaningful classification results and develop a powerful Decision Support System that is easy to use without specialist knowledge.
The project is led by Dr. Rutger Zietsma of Manus Neurodynamica Ltd..
Partners:
- Fraunhofer-Instituts (IPA and IPMS), Germany
- Hispafuentes, Spain
- Inotec FEG mbH, Germany
- Manus Neurodynamica Ltd, United Kingdom
- University Medical Centre Groningen, Netherlands
- Pattern Expert, Germany
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Department for ITC for health and wellbeing, Finland
