Monitoring devices

[Frances24E]

Can anyone recommend an app or wearable device that accurately tracks tremor etc. My symptoms seem unrelated to Madopar dose and timing in that in the evening after several hours without medication I can be steady and other times after medication my tremor is apparent. It would be useful to see this more accurately.

[FMundo]

How about this:

The PKG system, developed by Global Kinetics Corporation, is a wristwatch-like device worn on the side of the body that is most affected by the disease and continuously collects patients’ movement data — such as tremor, slow or involuntary movements, motor-skills fluctuations, and immobility — providing information to the patient’s doctor.

The PKG system is now commercialized for clinical use in 17 countries, including the U.S. and several European countries. Global Kinetics recently announced that its PKG-Watch was recommended by two separate expert panels to improve clinical management of Parkinson’s disease.

[FMundo in reply to FMundo]

... Cntinued (Reported in Parkinson's News Today in February)

Researchers at the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center in California have now evaluated the impact of using continuous objective movement measurement with the PKG system in the routine clinical care of Parkinson’s patients. The Parkinson’s Institute began using the PKG system in December 2015 as an additional evaluation method on top of clinical visit history and examination.

“The wearable PKG technology provides objective measurements which allow us to further deliver the highly individualized care that a patient deserves,” Carrolee Barlow, MD, PhD, former CEO of the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center and senior author of the study, said in a press release.

In routine care, physicians targeted PKG use to patients they believed could benefit from objective movement measurement — mainly those who were new to the clinic; were experiencing clear symptom fluctuations; were unable to clearly report their symptoms; and were considering or using deep brain stimulation or Duopa (carbidopa/levodopa, marketed by AbbVie).

Between December 2015 and July 2016, 89 patients with Parkinson’s disease were selected to use the PKG system as part of their routine clinical evaluation and follow-up, 81 of whom were included in the final analysis. Forty-five patients had one PKG, and 44 had two PKGs, 10 of whom went on to have three PKGs completed.

Physicians provided their collective views on the impact of the system on patient care in a total of 112 surveys. Of these, 41% indicated that the PKG provided additional information to the physician. However, 59% reported that the system failed to provide additional information.

Of the surveys reporting that the PKG did provide additional information, 78% indicated the data provided by the PKG system resulted in changes in patient care, while 22% revealed “the PKG provided additional information but that no alteration in patient care occurred based on this information,” according to the researchers.

The personalized monitoring system was found to provide new and precise information on daily off time — the period when medication is not working efficiently — in 50% of the cases.

“Physicians … adjusted treatment nearly a third of the time based on the real-time clinical status captured during objective continuous monitoring outside the clinic setting,” the researchers wrote.

“These results demonstrate the real-world clinical benefits that PKG can provide to patients and clinicians in their continuing effort to optimize Parkinson’s therapy, and manage symptoms effectively,” said John Schellhorn, CEO of Global Kinetics Corporation. “The results of this study support the use of PKG as an important tool for individualizing therapy to best meet each patient’s unique needs.”

[Buffy007]

Madopar seems to make my husband's tremor worse.