DXC Technology: Transforming care for people with Parkinson’s disease and their clinicians using AI
Remote monitoring of Parkinson’s disease symptoms
A mobile app based on SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Business AI is enabling people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to keep clinicians informed about their symptoms. The innovative solution not only helps improve quality of life for PD patients and their carers but also marks a huge step forward in using AI to support clinical decisions.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Healthcare | Sydney, Australia | N/A |
Neurologist
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Healthcare | Sydney, Australia | N/A |
Neurologist
Accessing data to track symptoms and tailor treatment accordingly
More than 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease (PD), the second-most-common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s. There is no cure for this progressive disease, but a patient’s quality of life can be significantly enhanced with the correct medication as well as treatment that reduces the effects of symptoms. One of clinicians’ major tasks is tracking fluctuations in these symptoms to determine a patient’s condition and optimize their medication regime.
Neurologist Dr. Yun Hwang explains, “Symptoms of PD include slowed movement, tremors, and difficulty with walking and speech. The biggest ongoing challenge is achieving adequate symptom control throughout the day. However, obtaining the data to accurately track a patient’s ‘on’ and ‘off’ states is often limited to clinician appointments or through patients self-reporting their symptoms. This prevents neurologists from gaining an optimal understanding of these states to benefit patients and optimize medication management.”
In an “on” state, a patient’s medication is working effectively so they have maximum mobility and energy. In an “off” state, the medication’s efficacy is waning, causing symptoms to worsen and potentially become debilitating. Clinicians need accurate data to help them devise treatment plans that encourage a frequent “on” state.
Collecting this data is a complex task that is exacerbated when patients cannot regularly attend face-to-face appointments. Hwang says, “Asking patients to track their symptoms manually between appointments is also challenging, as the frequency of self-reporting is often contingent on the severity of the symptoms being experienced.”
One approach clinicians use to objectively assess a patient’s symptom control is asking them to write or draw a spiral shape using pen and paper. With this method in mind, Hwang and his team set out to explore how AI could help enable the best outcomes for patients.
Neurologist
Building an intuitive mobile app to help PD patients track symptoms
Having received approval from the Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) for its Parkinson’s Disease Spiral Analysis Project, Dr. Hwang and his associates set out to develop a solution that would provide accurate, more easily accessible data on patients’ “on” and “off” states. Neurologists and clinicians from CCLHD worked with SAP, DXC Technology, and patients at Gosford Hospital to refine and test a prototype.
Built on SAP Business Technology Platform, the resulting solution comprises a mobile app for patients and carers and a desktop application for clinicians. It uses SAP Business AI capabilities embedded in the SAP Build Process Automation solution to create an AI model and algorithm and power data point analysis. These built-in capabilities, including data extraction and data enrichment across both structured and unstructured documents, enable intelligent document processing without the need for clinician support. DXC Technology worked on solution and user interface development across data collection and project delivery.
PD patients use the mobile app to log their symptoms and upload spiral drawings to their neurologist. They can also enter information on aspects such as blood pressure readings, current sentiment, and medication usage.
This data flows into the AI engine to determine a patient’s “on” or “off” status. The status is then integrated into the desktop view, together with the data points collected by the mobile app, to help clinicians devise suitable patient management and treatment plans. The AI engine enables continuous machine learning and improved data insights that help clinicians better understand individual patients’ causal factors and appropriate treatment options. See the figure below for an overview of the architecture of the PD spiral analysis mobile app.
SAP BTP Practice Manager, DXC Technology
Empowering patients to give clinicians the data they need
The PD spiral analysis mobile app is already helping improve PD patients’ experiences and outcomes. As well as simplifying self-reporting and symptom management processes, the intuitive mobile app improves access to neurologists for patients who find it difficult to attend hospital appointments due to their location or mobility issues.
Clinicians, for their part, have more data points on a patient’s “on” and “off” states, helping them create more-effective treatment plans and better manage medication. Hwang says, “This app allows patients to convey a snapshot of their daily symptom fluctuations over many weeks to their treating doctors, who receive an overview of each patient’s symptom control over, say, a month at a glance to help with their treatment decision-making process.”
And continuous machine learning provides exponentially more-refined data insights to inform neurologists’ diagnoses and treatment plans. With more-frequent access to critical data and confidence in the AI algorithm’s assessment of patients’ spiral drawings, neurologists have more time to focus on individual patient needs during clinical appointments.
Applying innovative digital medical technology to other disorders
Continuing improvements to the app’s capabilities are underway. Planned new features include the ability to set reminders, use digital calendars to monitor specific actions, share updated medication schedules, and continuously monitor symptom fluctuations. All of these improvements will further enhance quality of life and treatment for patients.
In addition to its benefits for PD patients, carers, and clinicians, the solution has significant potential to be used across different areas of medicine. For example, its scalability means it could provide the foundational architecture for telehealth assessments. The mobile app and dual clinician-to-patient interface could also be useful in monitoring and managing diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
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