 |
 |
Clinical trial news: Gathering data on Parkinson's patients in their homes By Sarah Baldauf Posted 9/25/06 More From Best Health Scientists studying early-stage Parkinson's disease are lacking one important resource: patient volunteers. So a group of doctors led by Christopher Goetz, director of movement disorders at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, is testing the feasibility of gathering data on patients in their own homes. With the help of an Internet connection and a computerized device he helped develop with Intel Corp., Goetz hopes to collect an "immense amount of data" on the course of the disease in a non-time-consuming and noninvasive manner. Goetz estimates that 40 percent of early-stage Parkinson's patients don't participate in research because of practical issues-like full-time jobs-that make it tough to keep frequent appointments. As part of the "At Home Testing Program," volunteers diagnosed with Parkinson's within the past five years use the computerized device to perform a weekly 30-minute battery of tests similar to those they would face in a doctor's office, such as a finger-tapping test, moving pegs from one small hole to another, and speaking exercises. The device automatically sends the data in over a six-month period, providing information on decline in reaction time, worsening of tremors, and voice changes (among other symptoms). If the effort succeeds, Goetz envisions in-home data collection as a complement to the existing way of measuring the disease's progression: A clinician uses the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale to observe and rate the patient as he or she performs various physical tasks. According to Goetz, the UPDRS isn't a good measure of the small changes typical in the disease's early stage. The new device, he believes, is sensitive enough to allow a better understanding of the disease and possibly to validate new drug treatments. Several institutions besides Rush University Medical Center are participating in the trial, including Stanford University, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and will ultimately bring in 50 patients in total. Further information on the trial can be found on Thomson CenterWatch, a clinical trials listing service. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn