Lower limb symptom tracking for monitoring Parkinson Disease
Team: BME Design Team: Solerius
- Program: Biomedical Engineering
- Course:
Project Description:
Parkinson Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects over 1 million individuals in the United States. PD produces motor and neurological symptoms that deteriorate over time, often causing a severe decrease in the quality of life of individuals with PD. Most individuals with PD only visit their neurologist one to two times a year; however, no quantitative symptom tracking occurs between these visits. This leads to many individuals with PD being prescribed with generic treatment adjustments, which is problematic as symptom presentation varies widely among individuals with PD. Thus, many treatment regimens do not accurately prevent further symptom degeneration. The ideal solution is more consistent check-ups, where neurologists administer tests assessing motor and non-motor symptoms of PD. However, due to limitations in time, money, and other resources, more frequent visits are not feasible. This leaves large windows of time during which an individual’s condition can deteriorate, with axial symptoms (e.g., postural instability and gait abnormalities) often going unnoticed, increasing the risk for adverse events such as falls. Symptom tracking will help neurologists better understand the adverse events that individuals with PD face and enable neurologists to make data-driven decisions. Thus, neurologists working with individuals with PD need a way to quantitatively track lower limb symptoms between infrequent clinic visits, which will empower them to use trends in symptom progression to create personalized treatments that improve individuals’ mobility and quality of life over time.
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