•Advanced algorithms can contribute to more efficient PD diagnosis and assessment.•Artificial Neural Networks gave the highest accuracy (>95%) for early PD detection.•SVM proved to be the most ...successful algorithm for symptom severity prediction.•The studies are diverse in terms of participants, methodology and outcome measure.•Validation of algorithms would benefit from increased collaboration of researchers.
Artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, has found numerous applications in computer-aided diagnostics, monitoring and management of neurodegenerative movement disorders of parkinsonian type. These tasks are not trivial due to high inter-subject variability and similarity of clinical presentations of different neurodegenerative disorders in the early stages. This paper aims to give a comprehensive, high-level overview of applications of artificial intelligence through machine learning algorithms in kinematic analysis of movement disorders, specifically Parkinson’s disease (PD). We surveyed papers published between January 2007 and January 2019, within online databases, including PubMed and Science Direct, with a focus on the most recently published studies. The search encompassed papers dealing with the implementation of machine learning algorithms for diagnosis and assessment of PD using data describing motion of upper and lower extremities. This systematic review presents an overview of 48 relevant studies published in the abovementioned period, which investigate the use of artificial intelligence for diagnostics, therapy assessment and progress prediction in PD based on body kinematics. Different machine learning algorithms showed promising results, particularly for early PD diagnostics. The investigated publications demonstrated the potentials of collecting data from affordable and globally available devices. However, to fully exploit artificial intelligence technologies in the future, more widespread collaboration is advised among medical institutions, clinicians and researchers, to facilitate aligning of data collection protocols, sharing and merging of data sets.
Purpose To investigate the structural brain connectome in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and in patients with PD without MCI. Materials and Methods This ...prospective study was approved by the local ethics committees, and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to enrollment. The individual structural brain connectome of 170 patients with PD (54 with MCI, 116 without MCI) and 41 healthy control subjects was obtained by using deterministic diffusion-tensor tractography. A network-based statistic was used to assess structural connectivity differences among groups. Results Patients with PD and MCI had global network alterations when compared with both control subjects and patients with PD without MCI (range, P = .004 to P = .048). Relative to control subjects, patients with PD and MCI had a large basal ganglia and frontoparietal network with decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right hemisphere and a subnetwork with increased mean diffusivity (MD) involving similar regions bilaterally (P < .01). When compared with patients with PD without MCI, those with PD and MCI had a network with decreased FA, including basal ganglia and frontotemporoparietal regions bilaterally (P < .05). Similar findings were obtained by adjusting for motor disability (P < .05, permutation-corrected P = .06). At P < .01, patients with PD and MCI did not show network alterations relative to patients with PD without MCI. Network FA and MD values were used to differentiate patients with PD and MCI from healthy control subjects and patients with PD without MCI with fair to good accuracy (cross-validated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve principal + secondary connected components range, 0.75-0.85). Conclusion A disruption of structural connections between brain areas forming a network contributes to determine an altered information integration and organization and thus cognitive deficits in patients with PD. These results provide novel information concerning the structural substrates of MCI in patients with PD and may offer markers that can be used to differentiate between patients with PD and MCI and patients with PD without MCI.
RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.
We propose a novel simple method for quantitative and qualitative finger-tapping assessment based on miniature inertial sensors (3D gyroscopes) placed on the thumb and index-finger. We propose a ...simplified description of the finger tapping by using a single angle, describing rotation around a dominant axis. The method was verified on twelve subjects, who performed various tapping tasks, mimicking impaired patterns. The obtained tapping angles were compared with results of a motion capture camera system, demonstrating excellent accuracy. The root-mean-square (RMS) error between the two sets of data is, on average, below 4°, and the intraclass correlation coefficient is, on average, greater than 0.972. Data obtained by the proposed method may be used together with scores from clinical tests to enable a better diagnostic. Along with hardware simplicity, this makes the proposed method a promising candidate for use in clinical practice. Furthermore, our definition of the tapping angle can be applied to all tapping assessment systems.
Abstract Depression and apathy are among the most common neuropsychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease (PD), and among the most important factors associated with a poor quality of life. ...However, their neural bases remain unclear. The results of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies on depression in PD differ dramatically. Some of them proposed a role of morphologic changes in the mediodorsal thalamus. In contrast to previous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) data, our study did not confirm a decrease in gray matter (GM) density in any brain region of depressed PD patients. Instead, a more severe white matter (WM) loss in the right frontal lobe was found, including the anterior cingulate bundle and the inferior orbitofrontal (OF) region. We suggested that the negative correlation between the severity of depression and WM density in the right OF region reinforces the hypothesis of depression in PD as a “disconnection syndrome”. Only one MRI study using VBM found that high apathy scores correlated with low GM density values in the right (posterior) cingulate gyrus and the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, in line with the findings in Alzheimer's disease and elderly adults with major depression.
Non-motor symptoms (NMS) of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have only recently been increasingly recognized for their impact on a patient’s quality of life. In this study, we applied the validated, ...comprehensive self-completed NMS questionnaire for PD (NMS Quest) to 101 patients with young-onset PD (onset between 21 and 45 years, YOPD) and 107 patients with late-onset PD (onset of PD ≥ 55 years, LOPD). The mean total NMS (NMSQ-T) was 11.9 ± 6.0 (range: 0 to of a maximum of 26) in LOPD and 7.7 ± 5.8 (range: 0 to of a maximum of 26) in YOPD (
p
< 0.05). Compared to YOPD, dribbling of saliva, loss of taste/smell, nocturia, forgetfulness, loss of interest, hallucinations, lack of concentration, anxiety, change in libido and difficulty in sexual activities, were significantly more prevalent in LOPD. The only NMS more prevalent in YOPD were restless legs and sweating, although such findings might be associated with drug effects. Among the nine NMS Quest domains, in both LOPD and YOPD patients the three most prevalent domains were depression/anxiety, urinary and sexual. Also, in both groups, hallucinations/delusions had the lowest frequency. In the multivariate linear regression model, the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) stage of the disease and activities of daily living scores in YOPD patients, while only the HY stage in LOPD patients appeared to be statistically significant predictors of increasing number of NMS. In contrast to a previous suggestion that YOPD patients might have an increased risk for NMS, we found a higher prevalence of NMS in LOPD patients than in those with YOPD.
Wearable sensors and advanced algorithms can provide significant decision support for clinical practice. Currently, the motor symptoms of patients with neurological disorders are often visually ...observed and evaluated, which may result in rough and subjective quantification. Using small inertial wearable sensors, fine repetitive and clinically important movements can be captured and objectively evaluated. In this paper, a new methodology is designed for objective evaluation and automatic scoring of bradykinesia in repetitive finger-tapping movements for patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism. The methodology comprises several simple and repeatable signal-processing techniques that are applied for the extraction of important movement features. The decision support system consists of simple rules designed to match universally defined criteria that are evaluated in clinical practice. The accuracy of the system is calculated based on the reference scores provided by two neurologists. The proposed expert system achieved an accuracy of 88.16% for files on which neurologists agreed with their scores. The introduced system is simple, repeatable, easy to implement, and can provide good assistance in clinical practice, providing a detailed analysis of finger-tapping performance and decision support for symptom evaluation.
Huntington disease (HD), the most common inherited cause of chorea, is an autosomal dominant disorder, caused by an expanded trinucleotide CAG repeat (>39) in the
HTT
gene on chromosome 4p16.3. Among ...patients diagnosed as HD solely on clinical grounds, a certain number was negative on genetic testing for HD. Therefore, HD-like disorders comprised a number of genetic causes of chorea, that may be indistinguishable from HD (e.g. HD phenocopy syndrome). Recent data suggested that the C9orf72 expansion may be the most common genetic cause of HD phenocopy presentations. In continuation with this observation, we analyzed a small cohort of 39 patients with HD phenocopy syndrome and detected the
C9orf72
expansion in one female patient (2.6 %) with two-year lasting mild generalized chorea and severe oro-bucco-lingual dyskinesia, who complained on forgetfullness (neuropsychological testing revealed dysexecutive syndrome with preserved episodic memory and recognition), unexplainable fears and increased appetite. Our results confirmed a possible role of the
C9orf72
expansion in the genetic background of HD phenocopy syndrome.