title: Feasibility study of a wearable system based on a wireless body area network for gait assessment in Parkinson's disease patients.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) alters the motor performance of affected individuals. The dopaminergic denervation of the striatum, due to substantia nigra neuronal loss, compromises the speed, the automatism and smoothness of movements of PD patients. The development of a reliable tool for long-term monitoring of PD symptoms would allow the accurate assessment of the clinical status during the different PD stages and the evaluation of motor complications. Furthermore, it would be very useful both for routine clinical care as well as for testing novel therapies. Within this context we have validated the feasibility of using a Body Network Area (BAN) of wireless accelerometers to perform continuous at home gait monitoring of PD patients. The analysis addresses the assessment of the system performance working in real environments.
authors.affiliation: Campus de Excelencia Internacional (CEI) Moncloa, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM)-Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid 28003, Spain. jcancela@lst.tfo.upm.es.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cancela
authors.affiliation: Life Supporting Technologies Group, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid 28003, Spain. mpastorino@lst.tfo.upm.es.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pastorino
authors.affiliation: Life Supporting Technologies Group, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid 28003, Spain. mta@lst.tfo.upm.es.
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Arredondo
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Simulations and Imaging Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Iroon Polytechniou 9, Athens 15780, Greece. knikita@ece.ntua.gr.
authors.forename: Konstantina S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Nikita
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosciences, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona 31008, Spain. fvillagra@unav.es.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Villagra
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosciences, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona 31008, Spain. mapastor@unav.es.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pastor
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D000368:Aged; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003625:Data Collection; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*