University College LondonJun 19 2024 A team of researchers, led by scientists at UCL and University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany, have developed a simple blood test that uses artificial intelligence to predict Parkinson's up to seven years before the onset of symptoms.
Currently, people with Parkinson's are treated with dopamine replacement therapy after they have already developed symptoms, such as tremor, slowness of movement and gait, and memory problems. But researchers believe that early prediction and diagnosis would be valuable for finding treatments that could slow or stop Parkinson's by protecting the dopamine producing brain cells.
The team then experimented to see whether the test could predict the likelihood that a person would go on to develop Parkinson's. The patients were followed up over the course of ten years and the AI predictions have so far matched the clinical conversion rate - with the team correctly predicting 16 patients as going on to develop Parkinson's and being able to do this up to seven years before the onset of any symptoms. The team are now continuing to follow up on those predicted to develop Parkinson's, to further verify the accuracy of the test.
Co-author, Professor Kailash Bhatia and his team are currently examining the test's accuracy by analysing samples from those in the population who are at high risk of developing Parkinson's, for example those with mutations in particular genes such as 'LRRK2' or 'GBA' that cause Gaucher disease.
Technology Technology Latest News, Technology Technology Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: medical_xpress - 🏆 101. / 51 Read more »