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Clinical highlights: Automated eye tracking and a case study - neuroClues

Written by Bao Nguyen | Mar 28, 2024 4:15:00 PM

Clinical highlights – March 2024

We are thrilled to inform you about the clinical benefits of eye tracking. Every once in a while, we keep you updated on the latest news shared by the scientific community.

The current newsletter will make you discover 3 recent articles highlighting the relevance of eye tracking for

  • Concussion
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Parkinson’s disease.

Enjoy the read!

The neuroClues® Team

Automating the analysis of eye movement for different neurodegenerative disorders

Researchers from the John Hopkins Hospital developed a multi-task rapid battery test in a cohort encompassing multiple neurodegenerative disorders including mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson’s disease mimics (PDM), and controls (CTRL).

The automated eye tracking analysis algorithms can extract interpretable and quantified biomarkers to evaluate the performance in smooth pursuit, saccade, visual exploration, and passage reading.

An example of sequences of screens for the five tasks employed along the timeline can be seen below.

Link to the publication

Automated Eye Tracking Enables Saccade Performance Evaluation of Patients with Concussion History

A recent study in Optometry and Vision Science sheds light on saccade performance in 115 patients with a concussion history.

They reported that patients with concussion, on average, had fewer fixations on self-paced horizontal and vertical saccade tests and lower horizontal and vertical saccade speed/accuracy ratios compared with normative ranges. 

They additionally identified risk factors for lower saccade performance among patients with a concussion history such as age, sex, number of concussion(s), and time from most recent concussion to oculomotor testing.

Future research could explore how the oculomotor performance changes over time, which may aid in ‘return-to-play’ decision-making for patients with sport-related concussion history.

Link to the publication

Eye Movement Study in Posterior Cortical Atrophy: A Case Report

In a recent case study, researchers used Video-Oculography to assess eye movements in a 64-year-old male with word-finding difficulties and mild visual spatial disturbances. They discovered marked increases in saccade latencies as seen in the table below, indicating dysfunction in the posterior parietal cortex. Subsequent investigations confirmed a diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Eye movement studies have shown promise in distinguishing PCA from typical Alzheimer’s Disease, often revealing increased saccadic latencies and shorter saccades.

Link to the publication