Detecting Parkinson's early: S. Korean doctors analyzing gait and retinal changes as potential...

Detecting Parkinson's early: S. Korean doctors analyzing gait and retinal changes as potential biomarkers for disease
국내 의료진, 걸음걸이와 망막 구조 분석 통해 파킨슨병 조기 판별, 진단 가능성 열어

As it did to the great Muhammad Ali, Parkinson's disease slowly robs patients of control of their body.
The incurable disorder threatens aging societies like Korea, so doctors here are taking action.
Our Han Seong-woo took an in-depth look into how detecting Parkinson's early may transform the way the illness is tackled.
Parkinson's begins long before the first tremor
and by the time the symptoms are obvious, it's often too late to hope for any meaningful change.
That's why the fight against this incurable disease depends so much on detecting symptoms early to potentially slow its progression.
Professor Byun Seon-jeong from the Catholic University of Korea Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, has filed a patent application for a unique way to accomplish that: AI-based analysis of the gait, or walk, of someone at high risk using an insertable shoe sole with sensors.

" data from 75 people with Parkinsonian symptoms along with 82 healthy individuals without symptoms for a grand total of nearly 8,700 steps, all with their own diverse gait indicators were incorporated into the algorithm I developed."

Byun says it boasts a 98.1 percent accuracy rate in differentiating between healthy older adults and those suffering from Parkinsonian symptoms and an 83.2 percent accuracy rate in distinguishing whether those symptoms are vascular or neurodegenerative.
The results fuel hopes that gait analysis could drastically save patients' medical bills by eliminating the need for brain scans until when they become absolutely necessary.

"Differentiating between these patients using conventional methods is quite a struggle. It's practically impossible for doctors to run MRIs or PET scans on them every time the need arises."

"Without even knowing I had Parkinson's, I had MRI scans on my brain, neck and waist, and the one for my brain cost me nearly 1,200 dollars."

According to research done by Professor Lee Jee-young at the Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Parkinson's may one day also be detected by observing structural changes in the retina.
Lee, along with several co-authors, recently published the work in Nature Reviews Neurology writing that the progressive thinning of the retina in certain areas provides potential biomarkers for early diagnosis.

"The orthodox theory is that, in the end, the layer of optic nerves known as the ganglion cell complex shrinks to the point that its total thickness is greatly reduced. Clinically speaking, the thinning correlates with how severe the Parkinsonian symptoms are"

She believes that retinal imaging will eventually offer a safe and scientifically significant solution to the overreliance on brain scans.

"Commercializing the method would give prospective patients a non-invasive and radiation-free way to detect the disease. For the medical community, it would signify a tremendous advance in health science: the confirmation of a pathophysiological mechanism between the retina and the brain."

Korea has one of the world's fastest aging populations, and with longer life expectancy, Parkinson's will only become more common making early detection of the disease vital for more sustainable, long-term care.
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News."

#Parkinson #SKorean_doctors #disease

2022-03-27, 18:00 (KST)

[Aficionado]

Please give her the patent. She has a wonderful idea that could change things. Her idea can help detect parkinsons in it's earliest stages before it can get to be too late. I wish her the best on getting her patent. Also I wish all the doctors the best in trying to help others. They do so much and don't give enough credit and respect when it is well deserved. All of you have my utmost respect and support.