Parkinson’s disease affects more than 200,000 people in Spain, according to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology. The number of patients has doubled since 2012, and a Madrid hospital has just launched a new diagnostic system to detect it early.
This isthe Gregorio Marañón University General Hospital, which, thanks to a collaboration between its Neurology Department and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, has developed a radar-based tool that enables the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in its very early stages.
Convenient and routine technology
The system identifies subtle motor changes in people who do not yet exhibit the symptoms of the disease, allowing for early diagnosis in a comfortable, accessible, and non-invasive manner.
According to Dr. Francisco Grandas, head of the Neurology Department at Gregorio Marañón, “this project opens up the possibility of studying gait not only in Parkinson’s patients but also in those potentially at risk of developing the disease, using a test that can be performed not only in experimental settings but also in a more routine clinical setting, ”as reported by the Community of Madrid.
The tool was unveiled as part ofWorld Parkinson’s Day , which was observed last Saturday, April 11. It has already proven effective in distinguishing between healthy individuals and affected patients and performs comparably to other existing techniques.
Analyzing every step
The new device works by emitting radiofrequency waves and analyzing their echo, using the Doppler effect, which distinguishes the high-pitched sound of an ambulance as it approaches and the lower-pitched sound as it moves away.
According toJuan Ignacio Godino, an engineer at the UPM, the system monitors various aspects of locomotion and detects changes that might go unnoticed in a conventional neurological examination .
Thus, stride length, foot speed, trunk movement, and arm swing are measured, which may indicate a prodromal phase of Parkinson’s disease, where a diagnosis cannot yet be established but the risk of developing the disease can be detected.
In addition to this system, Gregorio Marañón Hospital is conducting a study with three groups of participants, including people at higher risk of developing the disease, diagnosed patients, and healthy individuals.
As neurologist Valle Pérez del Olmo has found, gait abnormalities are more pronounced as the disease is present or at risk, indicating that this tool can be a good indicator for detecting Parkinson’s.