EyeBrain launches eye-tracking device for diagnosis of
Parkinson-plus diseases
7 Feb 2011
French company EyeBrain has announced that its
eye-tracking system, Mobile Eye Brain Tracker, is available on the market for the detection of Parkinson-plus diseases.
Parkinson-plus syndromes are a group of neurodegenerative
diseases featuring the classical features of Parkinson’s with
additional features that distinguish them from simple idiopathic
Parkinson's disease. They represent 15% of Parkinson
syndromes, and they are usually more rapidly progressive and less
likely to respond to anti-parkinsonian medication than Parkinson's
disease. As these disorders are very difficult to diagnose at an
early stage, neurologists usually wait for a minimum of two years
before they can provide a final diagnosis.
The Mobile Eye Brain Tracker (MObile EBT) has already been used on around 100 patients to test for
these syndromes. Results have shown that eye movements provide a
more accurate early diagnosis than traditional clinical
examinations.
The company’s device is currently the only medical device to
offer early diagnosis for a number of neurological diseases based on
eye movements of patients. Furthermore, the Mobile EBT is
non-invasive and costs less than regularly used imaging techniques,
such as MRI or x-rays. It was developed in conjunction with La
Pitié-Salpêtrière neurology team in Paris.
The Mobile EBT device, however, offers the earlier detection of
diseases, and can help distinguish between various Parkinson-plus
syndromes, like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal
degeneration (CBD), as well as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The
device also allows monitoring of the progression of the disease in
patients, and can be used for example during clinical trials.
Several brain areas are known to be involved in eye movements,
and when a parameter of eye movement is abnormal, it could indicate
dysfunction in the corresponding brain area. According to a study
done by EyeBrain, to be published in 2011, eye movement tests
provide a better basis for final diagnosis than traditional
neurological examination of supranuclear palsy (PSP), the most
frequent Parkinson-plus syndrome.
The Mobile EBT has been available in France, Belgium and
Luxembourg since June 2010, and is expected to be launched soon in
the UK, Ireland and European Nordic countries. It is already
CE-marked for Europe. EyeBrain’s production capacity is about fifty
devices a year and can be easily upgraded.
“Our Mobile EBTs are fully integrated and normalized systems that
can handle the entire clinical examination from stimuli display to
eye-movement capture and to data analysis and interpretation,” said
Serge Kinkingnehun, Founder, CEO and Scientific Director of EyeBrain.
“Our experience with many users has been excellent so far, and we
look forward to seeing continuing success in speeding up the
diagnosis for patients suffering from a number of neurological
diseases.”
“We are delighted that many key opinion leaders in oculomotricity
are also supporting us, alongside the Hospital de la
Pitié-Salpêtrière with whom we jointly designed the system,” he
added.
“The EBT provides real support to our work at diagnosing
Parkinson-plus diseases, which are usually very difficult to detect,
especially at an early stage,” said Dr. Bertrand Gaymard,
neurologist, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP (Paris). “With the
help of this new system, we can also keep track of the development
of different syndromes, which also helps our scientific work
significantly.”