Improving quality of life of Parkinson’s disease patients by Quantitative Cognitive Testing

Introduction

Parkinson’s disease is dominated by motor symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, and postural instability. However, over 90% of all patients develop cognitive impairment, including deterioration of learning, memory, and decision making.

Current Treatments

Current treatments focus on motor symptoms and offer, at best, moderate improvement of cognitive functions. Alleviating cognitive symptoms could dramatically increase the quality of life of patients.

Proposed Methodology

Therefore, we propose to apply a behavioral test of fine decision making combined with electroencephalography and electromyography measurements to quantitatively assess complex aspects of cognitive function, including:

• Inhibitory control
• Learning by reinforcement
• Decision making under conflict

This Quantitative Cognitive Testing (QCT) can be employed to improve Parkinson’s disease therapy based on regular feedback.

Broader Applications

Moreover, the method can be extended to other domains of neurodegenerative dementias. We foresee that the application of QCT can facilitate the development of telemedicine packages, thus reducing hospital visits and patient-doctor contacts.

Project Objectives

Under this PoC, we propose to:

1. Validate equipment we developed de novo
2. Conduct proof of concept experiments
3. Extend IPR protection
4. Explore commercialization strategies

Expected Outcomes

We believe that QCT can help achieve the best possible cognitive function, which would improve the quality of life of patients and their families. It could also reduce the disease-related cost burden on healthcare systems and society, making it appealing to health providers.