CLEVELAND, Ohio (March 24, 2009) – Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. (CleveMed) announced the release of automated tremor scoring for Kinesia™, a compact patient worn device for assessing Parkinson’s disease (PD) motor symptom severity. To demonstrate the benefits of Kinesia and the new tremor scoring feature, CleveMed has launched the new interactive website UPDRS.CleveMed.com.
The CleveMed UPDRS Scoring Challenge is an online educational tool intended for movement disorder clinicians and researchers, patients, caregivers or anyone interested in motor symptom evaluations. The interactive site allows a visitor to view and rate a series of videos displaying Parkinson’s disease patients performing tasks for evaluating tremor. After each short video is complete, the user enters a score ranging from 0 to 4 and the next video starts. Once the twelve videos are scored, the user scores are compared to scores from two movement disorder specialists for the same videos to demonstrate variability. Scores are also compared to the automated scoring provided by Kinesia.
Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms are typically assessed using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), a qualitative rating scale in which clinicians visually assess patient tremor symptoms and assign a 0 to 4 score based on severity. The UPDRS is subjective and scoring can sometimes vary between clinicians or for the same clinician at different times. Kinesia uses motion sensors worn on the hand and wirelessly transmits motor symptom information to a computer. Data is collected while patients follow computer based video instructions that guide them through various arm and hand movements. Tremor symptoms are assigned a 0 to 4 score and severity information can be tracked in patient reports. The Kinesia system, used in conjunction with the UPDRS, provides a consistent and repeatable method of monitoring motor symptom severity. The device can also be used to monitor symptom fluctuations in a patient’s home over the course of days or weeks, which may assist clinicians in adjusting medication timing and dosage.
About CleveMed
CleveMed was founded with the goal of developing innovative telemetry devices for a variety of medical applications. Today, CleveMed is developing and pioneering the use of novel wireless monitoring systems for high growth neurology and rehabilitation applications, including movement disorders and sleep disorders. Through these innovations, CleveMed has developed a growing range of products that address the needs of the medical, research and academic communities. For more information, please visit www.CleveMed.com
Media Contact
Maureen Phillips Sales & Marketing Manager 216.619.5918 mphillips@GLNeuroTech.com KinetiSense, Kinesia, Kinesia HomeView, BioRadio, CleveLabs, and BioCapture are trademarks of Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. of Cleveland OH provided under license to Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies.