The initiative includes a large multi-center clinical trial with University Hospitals of Cleveland, the University of Cincinnati, and the Clinical Neuroscience Center in Detroit, Michigan as the participating centers. The trial will aid in development of Kinesia for continuous symptom monitoring in patients’ homes, as well as further validate the correlation between the device and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS).
Kinesia is a compact lightweight system worn on a patient’s wrist and hand that monitors three-dimensional motion and electrical muscle activity (EMG) to objectively quantify the severity of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, such as tremor, bradykinesia (slowed movements) and dyskinesias (wild, involuntary movements).
Joseph Giuffrida, director of CleveMed’s division of movement disorders, said: “This funding will be used to upgrade the system for home use, further validate correlations between Kinesia and the UPDRS and demonstrate efficacy of home monitoring over longer periods of time, such as days, weeks or months, instead of just the snapshot that clinicians see in a typical office exam.”