Technology Meets Medical: Using Artificial Intelligence with Parkinson's Disease

According to the Parkinson's Association, an estimation of seven to ten million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease. Among the estimated people that have the disease are Reverend Jesse Jackson, a US Civil Rights Activist and politician and Michael J. Fox, a well-known actor that was in the famous Back to the Future movies. While both of them have led good lives before having Parkinson’s, they now lead a fight against the incurable disease.

Michael J. Fox, in order to help people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, even made a non-profit organization. This organization is now the largest non-profit founder of Parkinson’s disease drugs in the world and it helps in researching for any possible cure for the disease. He is widely appreciated in the medical world because of his tireless fight against Parkinson’s disease and the positive outlook he has in his life despite being diagnosed with the disease.

Despite being incurable, hundreds of studies are being conducted every year to find out ways to prevent and cure the disease.

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain called substantia nigra. As the disease progresses, the dopamine released by several dopamine-producing organs like the hypothalamus is slowly decreasing, thus affecting the movements of the patient.

The causes of Parkinson’s disease is still unknown to the doctors, but there is a theory that it is mostly caused by both genetic factors and environmental factors.

Early symptoms a patient may experience may include tremors, muscle stiffness, speech and writing changes, slow movements, and masked face. These symptoms may or may not be noticed by the patient, but it could worsen as time progresses.

Although not fatal, Parkinson’s disease can still reduce a patient’s longevity. It progresses quickly in older patients due to their reducing weak immune system. However, there is another study that links immune system to Parkinson’s disease. It is still unknown if immune system is the real cause of Parkinson’s disease or just worsens the disease.

Parkinson’s disease is not curable; however, as the time advances, the chances of developing a cure goes higher than expected. With the development of technology, a possibility of preventing Parkinson’s has increased with the help of artificial intelligence.

What does artificial intelligence involve?

Obviously artificial intelligence is created by humans and is designed with speech recognition, and it can help with both learning and problem-solving skills. An example of artificial intelligence is Siri and Google Assistant. Both these artificial intelligent assistants are developed for smartphones and computers.

Although artificial intelligence can be associated in many fields like in medicine, many people are still under the misconception that artificial intelligence is only limited to robots.

Among the applications of artificial intelligence are in the field of aviation, medical, transportation, entertainment (mostly in video games), virtual assistants (mostly on smartphones), and smart home devices.