Biomedical scientists develop new Parkinson's test
Friday 16th April 2010
A team of biomedical scientists in Israel claim to have made a discovery concerning Parkinson's disease.
The scientists, who are from Haifa University, say that a voice test could be used to diagnose patients who have the condition years before other assessments would detect it, the Daily Mail reports.
It works by measuring small changes in patterns of speech which are not detectable by normal hearing.
The development could have the knock-on effect of improving sufferers' prognoses because the earlier this disease is treated, the more successful interventions are.
Responding to the study's findings, Dr Kieran Breen of Parkinson's UK said: "Trying to find ways to diagnose Parkinson's at an early stage is key to understanding how to develop better and more effective treatments."
A chronic neurological condition, the disease affects around 120,000 people in the UK, NHS figures suggest. It was first identified in 1817 by Dr James Parkinson.
Written by Mathew Horton
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