title: Automatic detection of movement disorders using recordings of rapid alternating movements.
abstract: The present work assesses the potential of rapid alternating movement analysis for detecting movement disorders like Parkinson's disease. Rapid alternating wrist movements were recorded by a diadochokinesimeter for patients with Parkinson's disease (n=10) and healthy controls (n=20). An index of irregularity was computed for each individual as the density of jerk singularities (i.e. zero-crossings) during the movements. Several scales of analysis (i.e. "coarseness") were used for detecting the jerk events and two methods were compared for all of these scales: (1) automatic classification by means of a threshold that optimally separates the indexes of irregularity of the patients from those of the controls, and (2) statistical decision (normal or abnormal) based upon a distribution of indexes of irregularity obtained from a large population of normal subjects. The results showed that (1) two scales of analysis were sufficient and that (2) both methods presented similar performances (e.g. sensitivity=1.00, specificity=0.85, efficiency=0.90). However, statistical decision should be preferred because of its simplicity. The possibility of automatic detection of movement disorders from alternating movements is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Département de génie électrique, Ecole de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre Dame Ouest, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 1K3. efimbel@ele.etsmtl.ca
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Fimbel
authors.forename: Pedro Perez
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Domingo
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lamoureux
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beuter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*