Our first online ERIG meeting of 2021 was held on Saturday 6th March at 10:30 and was attended by around 30 members. The talk was given by Dr Rutger Zietsma, CEO of Edinburgh-based company Manus Neurodynamica.
The title of Dr Zietsma’s talk was: The NeuroMotor Pen – an easily performed objective test of fine motor skill to support diagnosing and monitoring Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Zietsma explained that when someone wrote with the NeuroMotor Pen it collected a series of digital biomarkers related to tremor, stiffness and slowness of movement. These biomarkers could be used to assess, with a high level of accuracy, whether the individual had Parkinson’s. Dr Zietsma envisaged that one major use of the device would be at primary care level to help GPs decide whether a patient needed to be referred on to a neurologist. Another important use could be to provide a quantitative measure of how Parkinson’s symptoms progress with time, or change in response to some form of therapy.
If you would like to watch a video recording of Dr Zietsma’s talk please contact davidm@edinburghparkinsons.org and he will send you a link to watch the recording.