Principal Investigators


R?ži?ka Evžen Prof. MUDr. DrSc., FCMA

Institution


General Faculty Hospital in Prague

Contact information of lead PI


Country


Czech Republic

Title of project or programme


Analysis of bradykinesia and speech in Parkinson’s disease

Source of funding information


Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic

Total sum awarded (Euro)


€ 150,000

Start date of award


01/05/2013

Total duration of award in years


3

Keywords


Research Abstract


Bradykinesia is the leading motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD), and is crucial for diagnosis and for estimation of the patient’s functional deficit. Bradykinesia is generally described as reduction of amplitude, slowing down and irregularity of movements. In practice, bradykinesia is assessed using ordinal rating scales (most often, the UPDRS) that however hardly discriminate delicate differences in the severity of bradykinesia and its temporal changes. Therefore, BradykAn system has been developed for analysis of upper limb movements. The present project aims to validate the BradykAn system in comparison with other tests, and to verify its applicability in differential diagnosis of hypokinetic movement disorders and in monitoring of bradykinesia severity, including the effects of treatment. Another goal is to study the relationship between bradykinesia and hypokinetic dysartria, the characteristic speech problem in PD, as measured using advanced methods of acoustic analysis.

Further information available at:

Export as PDF