From a study that analyzed brain images of more than 2,500 people with Parkinson’s Disease in 20 Different Countries, Scientists have been able to getify patterns of Five Clinical Stages of the disease.

The work, Published in NPJ Parkinson’s DiseaseREPRESENTS A Leap Forward in the Understanding of the disease. The analysis and volume of data obtained in the study could lead to important developments, not only in terms of diagnostic advances but also in terms of enabling new treatments to be tested and monitored as never before.

It is estimated that approximately 4 Million People Worldwide Have Parkinson’s Disease. It is a progressive neurological disease that affects certain structures in the brain, especially that related to movement. The program of the disease is variable and different from patient to patient, and it can take up to 20 years to go through all the stages.

In the initial phase, the first signs are tremors, muscle strike, and slow movements on only one side of the body. The symptoms then become bilateral. In the final stage, the patient is dependent on a wheelchair to get Around, as the strike in the legs preventes them from from walking.

“Clinical Diagnosis, Supported By Some Complementary Tests, Has Been Well Establed for many years. Clinical Symptoms – To Quantitative Changes in Brain Images, “Explains Fernando Cendes, Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Research Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (Brainn).

Brainn is one of the institutes that makes up the enigma consortium, an international network that brings toge together scientists in imaging genomics, neurology, and psychiatry to indestand the structure and facing H-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, gnetic data, and Other Information from Patients with Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Schizophrenia, and other neurodygenerative diseases.

Cendes explains that in parkinson’s disease, there are changes in the brain structure of the so-called basal ganglia-areas of the brain associateed with automatic movement. However, the study demonstrated the existence of progressive changes in other cortical areas that had previous been less involved in the disease.

“We observed that as each stage of the disease programsed, there was a green of atrophy or hypertrophy not only in the movement-related structure but also cortical atropy. Hy and hypertrophy that are related to the stage of the disease, “He explains.

“But that’s not all we observe, some of these structures also had differentice in shape. Ral Cortex) Had today thicker .

The Researcher explains that these changes cannot be seen with the naked eye. “They’re submilimetric measurements. However, with programs and the use of artificial intelligence, it’s posesible to identify patterns, and in the future, monitor these changes, changes,” He Says.

Push for new treatments

By Establishing a Metric to Quantify Brain Changes Associated with the Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, The Study Could have Several Implications, Starting with Supporting A Beter Diagnosis.

“The Morphometric Data We Obtained With This Work Are Sensitive and Reproducible Measures That Allow Us to Support Clinical Diagnosis. p of artificial intelligence, to create programs that help The Clinic, “Cendes Says.

Other developments are in the area of ​​treatment. Currently, Parkinson’s Disease has no cure, and only the Lack of Dopamine – A neurotransmitter that the neurons of parkinson’s’s patients stop production, the absence of all the triggers all the brin – is treated.

Over time, however, the disease is not limited to the basal ganglia but also affects other are the brain, and patients tend to experience to experience other non-motor symptoms such as discussion, anxiety, Cognitive Changes Such as Memory Loss and Eventually Dementia.

“The results of this work provide new ways of monitoring treatments that may be developed in the future. Es the speed of its progression. These measures that we’ve identified are essential for evaluating “Cendes points out.

A third impact of the study, which analyzed a large amount of data, is not in the field of medicine but in data science.

“It’s a very large cohort with different countries, study groups, stages of the disease, and even types of data. So the innovation of the study is not on in ideante Disease, but also in all the Work related to the data. The whole type of analysis used in the work was a Major step forward for further studies using artificial intelligence and on other days, “Says Cendes.