Method and system for allowing a neurologically diseased patient to self-monitor the patient's actual state

• US 20040073452A1
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Published: 04/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Abraham-Fuchs, Klaus, Schmidt, Kai-Uwe
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4094 Diagnosing or monitoring seizure diseases, e.g. epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/70 relating to mental therapies, e.g. psychological therapy or autogenous training
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

In a method for allowing a patient suffering from a neurological disease and being treated with medication to self-monitor his or her current state, information regarding the motor functions and/or verbal and/or cognitive abilities of the patient are interactively acquired upon using a computer located for easy and repeated access by the patient, and at least one criterion number or a statement describing the state is determined on the basis of this information by an expert system at the computer and is made available to the patient by an output device at the computer.

Claims

1. A method for allowing a patient, suffering from a neurological disease and receiving medication for said disease, to self-monitor the patient'"'"'s actual state, comprising the steps of:

providing a computer at a location readily accessible to a patient substantially on a daily basis;

conducting an interactive procedure between said patient and said computer to acquire information in said computer from the group consisting of information characterizing a motor function of the patient, information characterizing a verbal communication ability of the patient, and information characterizing cognitive abilities of the patient;

making an expert system accessible by said computer and supplying said information from said computer to said expert system and, in said expert system, determining at least one quantified indicator describing an actual state of the patient in the context of the patient'"'"'s neurological disease; and

providing said computer with an output device and making said quantified indicator available to the patient via said output device.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said information comprises information characterizing a motor function of said patient, and wherein the step of conducting an interactive procedure comprises conducting software-controlled motor function exercises for identifying negative and positive effects of said medication on said patient'"'"'s state, and quantifying said negative and positive effects for processing by said expert system for producing said quantified indicator.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said information is information characterizing a verbal communication ability of said patient, and wherein conducting an interactive procedure comprises acoustically acquiring speech from said patient and assessing said speech with a speech assessment system in said computer containing speech recognition algorithms and a phonetic data bank to obtain an information value quantifying negative and positive effects of said medication on said speech, and supplying said information value to said expert system for processing by said expert system for producing said quantified indicator.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said information is information characterizing cognitive abilities of the patient, and wherein conducting an interactive procedure comprises generating questions by said computer and requiring a response from said patient to the respective questions and, from said responses, generating an information value quantifying negative and positive effects of said medication on said cognitive abilities of the patient, and supplying said information value to said expert system for processing in said expert system to produce said quantified indicator.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 comprising acoustically entering said responses from said patient into said computer.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 comprising manually entering said responses from said patient into said computer.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising entering additional information into said computer in said interactive procedure characterizing a subjective state of health of said patient.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising obtaining a quantified information value representing said information in said interactive procedure, and storing, as stored information with respect to time, at least one of said quantified indicator, said information and said quantified information value after each interactive procedure.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 comprising providing said stored information to said expert system, and producing in said expert system an evaluation regarding dosage of said medication based on said stored information and making said evaluation available to the patient at said output device.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein said stored information includes said quantified indicator, and wherein said expert system produces said evaluation from an analysis of a curve relative to time of the respective quantified indicators obtained after each interactive procedure.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 further comprising making said chronological curve available to said patient as a displayed curve at said output device.

12. A method as claimed in claim 9 comprising storing said evaluation in a memory accessible by said computer.

13. A method as claimed in claim 10 comprising establishing communication between said computer and a physician located remote from said computer, and informing said physician of at least one of said quantified indicator and said evaluation and said information, as transmitted information.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 comprising transmitting therapy instructions from said physician to said computer based on an examination of said transmitted information, and making said therapy instructions available to the patient at said output device.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising formulating said quantified indicator as a number.

16. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising formulating said quantified indicator as a statement.

17. A system for allowing a patient suffering from a neurological disease and receiving medication for treating said disease, to self-monitor a state of the patient, comprising:

a computer readily accessible by the patient disposed at a location at which said patient is present substantially on a daily basis;

at least one software program installed in said computer for operating said computer to execute an interactive procedure with said patient to obtain information selected from the group consisting of information characterizing a motor function of the patient, information characterizing verbal communication abilities of the patient, and information characterizing cognitive abilities of the patient;

an input unit connected to said computer with which said patient interacts during said interactive procedure to supply inputs to said computer from which said information is acquired;

an expert system accessible by said computer, to which said information is supplied, said expert system producing a quantified indicator from said information and making said quantified indicator available to said computer; and

an output unit connected to said computer at which said quantified indicator is made available to the patient.

18. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said information is information characterizing a motor function of the patient, and wherein said input unit is a manually operated input unit, and wherein said software program operates said computer to execute motor function test exercises and produces a quantified information value quantifying negative and positive effects of said medication on said motor function and makes said quantified information value available to said expert system.

19. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said information is information characterizing verbal communication abilities of the patient, and wherein said input unit is an acoustical input unit, and wherein said software program assesses speech made by said patient into said input unit using speech algorithms and a phonetic data bank, and produces a quantified information value representing said verbal communication abilities, and makes said quantified information value available to said expert system.

20. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said information is information characterizing cognitive abilities of the patient and wherein said software operates said computer to present questions to said patient and to receive responses from said patient, and produces a quantified information value from said responses quantifying negative and positive effects of said medication on said cognitive abilities, and makes said quantified information value available to said expert system.

21. A system as claimed in claim 17 comprising a further software program for operating said computer to obtain additional information from said patient characterizing a subjective state of health of said patient.

22. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said software program in each interactive procedure produces a quantified information value from said information, and further comprising a memory accessible by said computer and by said expert system for storing, as stored information relative to time, at least one of said quantified indicator, said information and said quantified information value after each interactive procedure.

23. A system as claimed in claim 22 wherein said expert system produces an evaluation from said stored information with regard to a dosage of said medication.

24. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein said stored information includes said quantified indicator, and wherein said expert system produces said evaluation by analyzing a chronological curve of respective quantified indicators obtained from successive interactive procedures.

25. A system as claimed in claim 24 wherein said computer displays said chronological curve as a displayed curve at said output device.

26. A system as claimed in claim 23 further comprising a transmission link from said computer to an external computer located remotely from said computer for transmitting at least one of said evaluation and said quantified indicator to said external computer.

27. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said software operates said computer to formulate said quantified indicator as a number.

28. A system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said software operates said computer to formulate said quantified indicator as a statement.