Parkinson Check

ParkinsonCheck™ uses simple drawing exercises to detect signs of Parkinsonian or Essential Tremor, while also distinguishing between these two types of tremor. The application uses a built-in artificial intelligence module to detect the signs. It is intended for people with mild to moderate tremor who wish to check the type of their tremor, or to monitor it objectively. ParkinsonCheck™ does not replace a Medical Examination.

How to use

ParkinsonCheck™ needs to be used with care. Please read the instructions below before using it. If it is not used appropriately, the results may be invalid.

Background

The ParkinsonCheck™ mobile application is used for timely detection and monitoring of Parkinson's disease and some other tremors. It is based on spirography and uses an expert artificial intelligence system for automatic diagnostics. This application is designed to encourage people to see the doctor in the early stages of the disease, as an early diagnosis allows for an early start of available treatments and an improved quality of life.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is currently not curable, however the treatment can ease the symptoms and improve the quality of a patient’s life. The latest research also suggests that starting treatment in the early motoric phase with Levodopa or MAO-B inhibitors can slow down the progress of the disease.

Since PD is a chronic disease, its efficient monitoring is very important. Early detection of PD is also beneficial for continued research into the disease, since its early phase biological markers are currently not well known.

A tremor is one of Parkinson's disease’s main symptoms. Spirography is a technique for quantitative assessment of these tremors. From a spiral drawing, several parameters are calculated and fed into an expert system to differentiate between different types of tremor, and to perform automatic diagnostics. In this way, the application is able to detect not only PD, but also some other types of tremor, such as Essential Tremor.

ParkinsonCheck™ offers a possibility of self-diagnosis. We envision that this will encourage many patients to see the doctor at a much earlier phase of the disease. We also envision the web/mobile application as a cheap tool for diagnostics in primary health centres, for example, as part of routine check-ups.

About

ParkinsonCheck™ is the result of ongoing research collaboration between Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Faculty of Computer and Information Science at University of Ljubljana and Department of Neurology at University Clinical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The project was co-founded by European Regional Development Fund and Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

Programming by Guru Ltd., Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Design by Loni DBS Ltd., Ljubljana, Slovenia.