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Investigation of gait performance and brain activity during walking in Parkinson’s patients
Parkinson's disease is a prevalent neurodegenerative condition in individuals over 60 years old. It results from impaired dopaminergic cells in the basal ganglia, leading to gait disturbances and reduced independence. While treatment options like dopamine replacement therapies and Deep-Brain Stimulation (DBS) exist, not all patients benefit from DBS. The lack of reliable biomarkers hampers understanding of surgical outcomes. A new DBS device enables wireless recording of subcortical brain activity, offering novel insights into Parkinson's subcortical activity. To explore personalized therapies, this study will measure the gait performance, neuro-activities like deep brain activity as well as electroencephalography (EEG) during walking in Parkinson's patients. Combining cortical (EEG) and subcortical (DBS) recordings aim to investigate comprehensive brain activity during pathological gait.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Gait, EEG, EMG
Recently, a new generation of DBS device was released, which not only stimulates the subthalamic-nucleus (STN), but also allows wireless recording of electrophysiological signals from the target areas. The new device opens the door to novel insights into the subcortical activity of Parkinson’s patients. To further investigate personalized therapy possibilities, a scientific study to measure deep brain activity during gait in Parkinson’s patients will be conducted.
In this study, we aim to combine gait performance and recordings of cortical (EEG) and subcortical (DBS) brain activity to investigate the comprehensive brain activity in Parkinson’s patients during pathological gait.
The above elaborations have motivated the characterization of brain activity biomarkers associated with pathologic gait symptoms by simultaneously recording neuronal activity from the STN and 3D movement kinematics during walking in Parkinson’s patients.
This pilot project will be performed at the Laboratory of Movement Biomechanics in collaboration with the Laboratory for Rehabilitation Engineering (RELab) and Neurology Clinic, University Hospital Zurich.
Recently, a new generation of DBS device was released, which not only stimulates the subthalamic-nucleus (STN), but also allows wireless recording of electrophysiological signals from the target areas. The new device opens the door to novel insights into the subcortical activity of Parkinson’s patients. To further investigate personalized therapy possibilities, a scientific study to measure deep brain activity during gait in Parkinson’s patients will be conducted. In this study, we aim to combine gait performance and recordings of cortical (EEG) and subcortical (DBS) brain activity to investigate the comprehensive brain activity in Parkinson’s patients during pathological gait. The above elaborations have motivated the characterization of brain activity biomarkers associated with pathologic gait symptoms by simultaneously recording neuronal activity from the STN and 3D movement kinematics during walking in Parkinson’s patients. This pilot project will be performed at the Laboratory of Movement Biomechanics in collaboration with the Laboratory for Rehabilitation Engineering (RELab) and Neurology Clinic, University Hospital Zurich.
• Data acquisition with Parkinson’s patients and elderly persons in the gait laboratory
• Data analysis
• Presentation and summarizing results in a report
• Data acquisition with Parkinson’s patients and elderly persons in the gait laboratory • Data analysis • Presentation and summarizing results in a report
Zhongke Mei, zhongke.mei@hest.ethz.ch
Lena Salzmann, lena.salzmann@hest.ethz.ch
Zhongke Mei, zhongke.mei@hest.ethz.ch Lena Salzmann, lena.salzmann@hest.ethz.ch