Quantitative Detection of Parkinson's Disease Symptoms Advisor: Dr. Anita Mahadevan-Jansen Faraz Ali James Lugge Ernest Moore Mahesh Parlikad

Dr. Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, PhD. Asst. Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery Research: Optical techniques for diagnosis of pathology Fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy in cancer detection optical techniques that use laser to discriminate between healthy and diseased tissue in neurosurgery

What is Parkinson’s Disease? Neurodegenerative disorder caused by damaged or dead dopamine-neurons in the substantia nigra Dopamine: neurotransmitter that carries information from neuron to neuron and eventually out to the muscles Brain no longer able to direct or control muscle movement in a normal manner. Half a million people every year are affected by Parkinson’s

Symptoms Tremor or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face Rigidity or stiffness of the limbs and trunk Slowness of motor movements Postural instability or impaired balance and coordination Reduced blink rate of eyes

Treatment Drugs: Levodopa/ L-Dopa Drugs designed to mimic dopamine effects or counteract acetylcholine effects Pallidotomy: Section of globus pallidus removed Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) : Implants stimulators that block brain signals causing rigidity, tremors and other symptoms

Quantitative Measurement of Symptoms Purpose: To be able to associate numerical values to a patient’s before and after treatment symptoms. Methods used currently are based on “touch and feel” and are subjective. We will concentrate on measuring Parkinson’s through two of its symptoms Reduced eye blinking Muscle rigidity

Proposed Ideas Blink Rate Detector Rigidity Detector Symptom of Parkinson’s: increased blink rate Means of detection: EOG Rigidity Detector Symptom of Parkinson’s: hand and neck muscles tense Means of detection: Strain gauge Acetylcholine Detector Symptom of Parkinson’s: hand and neck muscles contracted Means of detection: invasive neurotransmitter detection

Reduced Eye Blinking Loss of automatic control is one of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Reduced eye blinking is a feasible symptom that can be quantified by use of an electrooculargram (EOG). LED + detector combination that detects light reflected back from the eye.

Muscle Rigidity Detection Another symptom is rigid muscles which can occur in the limbs or neck. A strain gauge can be used to detect the alleviation of rigid muscles. Strain gauges can detect a change as low as 500με.

Methods of Strain Gauge Application Placement Wrist Neck Material Selection Comfortable elastic High sensitivity to small surface changes Output Labview

Current Status Have equipment readily available for the blink rate counter Have a strain gauge but are currently looking for appropriate material to apply the gauge

Future Work Collaboration with Dr. Chris Kao Collaboration with Dr. Peter Conrad View a Deep Brain Stimulation procedure Construct the two different designs Test and compare the two designs Compare the better method with competitors