Detection of hand tremor in patients with Parkinson’s disease using a non-invasive laser line triangulation measurement method

Abstract

Detection of hand tremor for evaluating and diagnosing early stage of Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to correlate hand tremors analyzed by a non-invasive method with clinical manifestations among patients with PD. Four different modes of tremor detection in patients with PD were detected individually using a laser line triangulation measurement (LLTM) method and off-line analyzed.The results showed a significant correlation between age at disease onset and tremor frequency obtained from the left hand and from the non-dominant hand. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between disease duration and tremor frequency obtained from the left hand and from the non-dominant hand using different detection modes.We conclude that the laser line triangulation measurement is a non-invasive, non-contact, portable, easy-to-use and low cost method that can detect tremor early in the course of patients diagnosed with PD.