Computer Aided Written Character Feature Extraction in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Parkinson's Disease.

Paula Stępień,Magda Dąbrowska,Jacek Kawa,Emilia J Sitek,Jarosław Sławek,Dariusz Wieczorek,Rafał Sikorski,Ewa Pietka

doi:10.3390/s22041688

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are neurodegenerative movement disorders associated with cognitive dysfunction. The Luria’s Alternating Series Test (LAST) is a clinical tool sensitive to both graphomotor problems and perseverative tendencies that may suggest the dysfunction of prefrontal and/or frontostriatal areas and may be used in PD and PSP assessment. It requires the participant to draw a series of alternating triangles and rectangles. In the study, two clinical groups—51 patients with PD and 22 patients with PSP—were compared to 32 neurologically intact seniors. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment. The LAST was administered in a paper and pencil version, then scanned and preprocessed. The series was automatically divided into characters, and the shapes were recognized as rectangles or triangles. In the feature extraction step, each rectangle and triangle was regarded both as an image and a two-dimensional signal, separately and as a part of the series. Standard and novel features were extracted and normalized using characters written by the examiner. Out of 71 proposed features, 51 differentiated the groups (p < 0.05). A classifier showed an accuracy of 70.5% for distinguishing three groups.

Highlights

According to the American National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, there are over 600 neurological disorders
The diagnosis of most sporadic movement disorders of neurodegenerative etiology remains a clinical challenge as many motor features lack specificity and a full neuropsychological workup is not always available
The evaluation of the automatic regions of interest (ROIs) selection was related to the manual delineations performed by an expert

Summary

Introduction

The differential diagnosis of most neurodegenerative disorders in clinical practice relies heavily on the clinician’s experience and short screening measures feasible in busy movement disorders and/or dementia clinic. The diagnosis of most sporadic movement disorders of neurodegenerative etiology remains a clinical challenge as many motor features lack specificity and a full neuropsychological workup is not always available. Even in the era of sophisticated technology enabling the tracking of subtle motor features, a clinical neurological examination is the core element of the diagnostic process [1]. Quantitative analysis of data gathered during routine clinical assessment could be a valuable add-on to the qualitative interpretation based on the clinical judgment. Tools allowing qualitative and quantitative approaches to interpretation are approachable for a busy clinician

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