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A team at the University of California, Los Angeles has developed a device that could cut the cost of diagnosing this serious neurological disease. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Around 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s.
The diagnostic device can distinguish between individuals with the disease and those without it based on their writing style. Key symptoms include tremors and slowed or impaired movement of the limbs and body.
Why is this invention important?
Diagnosis, which typically requires observing a patient’s motor skills, is often unavailable in low- and middle-income countries because of a shortage of medical professionals.
Soon, a pen that could help public health may arrive. The device combines artificial intelligence with magnetic ink. It detects signs of Parkinson’s disease by analyzing handwriting samples, the publication Independent reported.
Handwriting is a complex process that requires close coordination between the brain and the hands. Previous studies have shown that Parkinson’s disease significantly affects handwriting.
“We developed a pen for autonomous diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease with a soft magnetoelastic tip and ferromagnetic ink. It can sensitively and quantitatively convert movements during writing—on surfaces and in the air—into high-precision electrical signals for analysis,” the researchers said.
The team demonstrated that, with the help of the AI system, the pen could easily distinguish handwriting samples from three patients with Parkinson’s disease from samples from 13 healthy participants.
The device diagnosed Parkinson’s disease with over 95 percent accuracy in tests. Researchers hope the pen will be an affordable, accurate tool that can improve diagnosis across large populations and in areas with few qualified medical professionals.
The team also said the pen could be especially useful for untreated people who haven’t yet been identified as having Parkinson’s disease.
