EyeBrain, a French developer of medical devices for early diagnosis of neurological diseases, has announced that its EyeBrain Tracker device is to be used in a clinical trial evaluating dyskinesia in Parkinson’s patients treated with levodopa. The EyeBrain Tracker, which was featured previously on Medgadget, measures eye movements using high resolution cameras, sampling at 300Hz. The motion analysis carried out by the system aims to identify neurological conditions which manifest in subtle changes to the eye kinetic patterns.
According to the press release the device will be used in this current trial to quantify motor function by analyzing the blinking characteristics of the patient. Professor Jean-François Tison at the University of Bordeaux, a neurologist involved in setting up the trial, explains the role of the EyeBrain tracker:
Patients suffering from idiopathic Parkinson’s disease will undergo an acute test as part of a pre-operational assessment for stimulating the deep recesses of the brain…
…We will see whether levodopa modifies the parameters of blinking in a way that is correlated with the improvement in motricity. Using the EyeBrain Tracker enables us to measure the motricity effect through eye movements, since the blinking parameters are also linked to the patient’s general motricity. The patient’s response to this trial is also a predictor of their reaction to the neurosurgery that will follow.
The EyeBrain Tracker has so far been used for the early diagnosis of a number of Parkinsonian syndromes and is currently being evaluated for use in early diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. We will keep an eye on this one.
Press release: Eyebrain Tracker to be used in clinical trial for Parkinson’s therapy
Product page: MOBILE EBT…
Flashback: E(ye)Brain Launches Mobile Eye-Tracking Device for Early Neuro Diagnosis
