Researchers have developed the first tool that can diagnose Parkinson’s disease when there are no physical symptoms, offering hope for more effective treatment of the condition.
Researchers have developed the first tool that can diagnose Parkinson’s disease when there are no physical symptoms, offering hope for more effective treatment of the condition.
There are currently no laboratory tests for Parkinson’s and by the time people present to a neurologist with symptoms, nerve cells in their brains have already suffered irreversible damage.
The RMIT University research team behind the new diagnostic software - which works with readily available technologies and has an accuracy rate of 93 per cent - hope it could one day be used as a standard screening test to spot the condition in its earliest stages.
Chief investigator Professor Dinesh Kumar said many treatment options for Parkinson’s were effective only when the disease was diagnosed early.
Read more at RMIT University
Image: RMIT University researchers Professor Dinesh Kumar and Poonam Zham have developed customized software for diagnosing Parkinson's disease. (Credit: RMIT University)
