METHOD FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ORAL THERAPY IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Abstract

A method and a system are described, for managing a mouth therapy in the Parkinson's disease, through the analysis of the motion status of patients, wherein the motion status can be in one of the following phases: OFF phase, wherein Parkinson's symptoms, such as rigidity, tremor and bradykinesia, emerge; ON phase wherein the symptoms markedly improve; DIS phase wherein involuntary movements emerge, called dyskinesias; as detectors of the symptoms the following parameters are used: voice analysis; face analysis; tremor analysis; movement analysis; levodopa and metabolite levels of monoamines in the sub-cutaneous interstitial liquid of the patients; an algorithm being provided, which provides to the patient the daily therapeutic scheme with its relates administration dosages and inter-times, computed by using the parameters as detectors.

Claims

1. A method for managing an oral therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, said method comprising determining a motor status of a patient affected by said Parkinson's disease, wherein said motor status can be in one of the following phases: OFF phase, wherein Parkinson's symptoms, comprising one or more of rigidity, tremor and bradykinesia, emerge; ON phase, wherein said symptoms markedly improve; DYS phase, wherein involuntary movements emerge, called dyskinesias; wherein said method uses as detectors of said symptoms the following parameters: voice analysis; face analysis; tremor analysis; movement analysis; levodopa and metabolite levels of monoamines in the sub-cutaneous interstitial liquid of said patients; providing to the patient a daily therapeutic scheme with its related administration dosages and inter-times, computed by using said parameters as detectors.

2. A system for managing an oral therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, comprising: an electronic bracelet, equipped with an accelerometer, a magnetometer and a gyroscope, three-axial, for collecting data continuously about tremor and movement; a photo-camera to shoot face expressions, to be actuated upon request of a patient; a recorder to record the patient voice, to be actuated upon request of the patient; a micro-dialysis pump connected to an analysing unit and to a sub-cutaneous needle, adapted to collect and analyse samples of interstitial liquid to determine levodopa and metabolite levels of monoamines in said sub-cutaneous interstitial liquid; a processing device, equipped with a suitable software which, using a movement stabilizing algorithm, adapted to integrate data about movement, tremor, face, voice and levodopa and metabolite levels of monoamines in said sub-cutaneous interstitial liquid, to provide the patient with information to modulate the oral therapy, using as feedback data about a starting therapeutic scheme; a display on which the updated oral therapy is displayed.

3. The system for managing an oral therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease according to claim 2, wherein said photo-camera, said recorder, said processing device, said display and the related software are integrated in a handheld computer/smartphone, so that the electronic bracelet and the analysing unit send analysis data about movement, tremor and levodopa and metabolite levels of monoamines directly to said handheld computer/smartphone, said handheld computer/smartphone being equipped with a display adapted to display updated oral therapy.

Description

[0033] The present invention will be better described by a preferred embodiment, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a system for the management of oral therapy in Parkinson's disease, according to the invention;

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a variant of the system according to the invention.

[0036] With reference to FIG. 1, the system (1) for oral therapy management support in Parkinson's disease of the invention includes: [0037] an electronic bracelet (2), equipped with an accelerometer, a magnetometer and a triaxial gyroscope, used to continuously collect data on tremor and movement; [0038] a camera (3) for recording facial expressions, to be activated at the request of the patient; [0039] a recorder (4) to record the voice to be activated at the request of the patient; [0040] a micro-dialysis pump (5) connected to an analyzer unit (5a) and with a subcutaneous needle for the collection of samples of interstitial fluid to determine the levels of levodopa and monoamine metabolites in said subcutaneous interstitial fluid; [0041] a processing device (6), equipped with suitable software which, using a movement stabilization algorithm, integrates movement, tremor, facial, vocal data and the levels of levodopa and monoamine metabolites in said subcutaneous interstitial fluid, information to the patient to modulate oral therapy, using data from the initial therapeutic scheme as feedback; [0042] a display (7) showing the updated oral therapy.

[0043] Starting from an initial therapy (100), established on the basis of the symptoms observed, the functioning of the system (1), to modulate the therapy according to the course of the disease, is divided into the following steps.

[0044] Step 1—The electronic bracelet (2) continuously records the patient's movement (10) and tremor (11) data.

[0045] Step 2—When the patient perceives a state of OFF or marked dyskinesias (DIS), he uses the camera (3) to record facial expressions (12) and the recorder (4) to record his voice (13). At the same time, the analyzer unit (5a) detects the levels of levodopa and monoamine metabolites (14) in the interstitial fluid samples taken from the micro-dialysis pump (5) through said subcutaneous needle.

[0046] Step 3—The processing device (6) receives from the electronic bracelet (2), the camera (3), the recorder (4) and the analyzer unit connected with the micro-dialysis pump (5), the combined movement data (10), tremor (11), facial images (12), voice (13) and levels of levodopa and monoamine metabolites (14) and, through the movement stabilization algorithm (15), determines the new daily therapeutic scheme (101) and shows it on the display (7).

[0047] According to a preferred embodiment (la), shown in FIG. 2, the camera (3), the recorder (4), the processing device (6), the display (7) and the related software are integrated in a PDA/smartphone (8), for which the electronic bracelet (2) and the analyzer unit (5a) connected to the micro-dialysis pump (5), send the analysis data of movement (10) and tremor (11) and levels of levodopa and monoamine metabolites (14) directly to the PDA/smartphone (8), which will show the new daily therapeutic scheme on its display (101).

[0048] The daily therapeutic scheme with the relative dosages and intermediate times of administration, will maintain a motor state of ON in a continuous and constant way throughout the day, without motor OFF or dyskinesias.