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iPhone App Aids Study of Movement Disorders
A new iPhone application may help physicians at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin more effectively detect tremors and other symptoms linked to movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor.
“Patients can experience large fluctuations in symptoms over time, but currently we can only assess patients infrequently, in a clinic,” explained Christopher Butson, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery and principal investigator of a new research study.
The app created by Dr. Butson and engineer Sanket Jain continuously records motion data from 24 study participants, identifying when symptoms occur.
Parkinson’s patients, for instance, typically experience “on time,” where symptoms are well-controlled, and “off time,” when they experience undesirable symptoms or side effects. The iPhone app can help quantify on and off time while the patients are at home. Dr. Butson said this information may aid physicians when deciding on treatment.
The study’s volunteers also can participate in a Movement Disorders Databank, which anonymously collects clinical data for more than 600 movement disorder patients. “It examines patient outcomes over a long time period and measures the relative effectiveness of different treatment options,” explained Dr. Butson.
Source: Froedtert Today Date: September 2010 |