(image: Korea Bizwire)
UIJEONGBU, March 14 (Korea Bizwire) — A new diagnostic method that looks at how a person walks to determine if they are suffering from Parkinson’s disease or dementia has been patented.
A research team from St. Mary’s Hospital in Uijeongbu developed a new diagnostic method that collects data from an individual’s shoes to diagnose degenerative brain diseases, putting it up for patent registration.
Degenerative brain diseases include Parkinson’s disease, dementia and Lou Gehrig’s disease, most of which occur at an older age.
Currently, an expensive MRI or a PET scan is required for the diagnosis of such diseases, as well as frequent visits to the hospital.
The new method, however, uses a ‘smart insole’ that is attached inside a shoe, collecting data on how the person walks through its sensors, which is then analyzed to determine the person’s brain condition.
The new method demonstrated 98.1 percent accuracy for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, and 83.2 percent accuracy for differentiating whether the disease is vascular or degenerative.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
