Smart Device System for Movement Disorders

Parkinson’s disease and Essential Tremor are two of the most common Movement Disorders. Currently, they are primarily diagnosed by medical history taking and neurological examination. However, diagnostic accuracy is still very low and there is a strong need for further objective measurements (e.g. new Biomarkers) for diagnostic support.
At the Institute of Medical Informatics Münster, a mobile system for movement analysis of patients with M. Parkinson and Essential Tremor was developed. This project is funded by the IMF (Innovative Medical Research for Young Scientists) and is carried out as an observational study in cooperation with the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Münster. The system consists of so-called smartwatches, which are integrated as part of a short neurological examination on both wrists of the patient and thus measure high-resolution movement data. These movement data are supplemented by electronic questionnaires, which the examiner fills in on the smartphone.
It also evaluates important family history information (e.g. is there a relative with Parkinson's disease?), medication, and questions about non-motor symptoms such as depression, fatigue and quality of life.
The study is conducted  for two years and aims to train, using more than 500 patients, an AI-system (Artificial Intelligence System) to test if new phenotypical characteristics can be identified and how accurate disease classification is. After the study, these findings can be used to significantly improve diagnostic accuracy.

Study Registration-ID: NCT03638479

Contact:
Principal Investigator: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Julian Varghese, MD, M.Sc
Project Lead: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Julian Varghese, MD, M,Sc

Michael Fujarski, MSc, Lucas Plagwitz, MSc

Project number: VA 1 1 18 09