Standardized medical cognitive assessment tool

• US 20050187436A1
• Filed: 10/25/2004
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neuro TRAX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Neuro TRAX Corporation
• Inventors: Doniger, Glen M., Simon, Ely S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,294,107 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• 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 5/162 Testing reaction times
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/168 Evaluating attention deficit, hyperactivity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics

Abstract

A testing system and method for evaluation of neurological function are provided. Specifically, the system and method can be used to differentiate between normal and pathological function for motor skills, logic, reasoning, coordination, verbal function, memory, and various other skills. In addition, it is designed to provide a package to a clinician, including a recommended battery of tests and a results report. The system and method described herein is designed to reduce bias due to the human nature of the tester, while still maintaining versatility, individualized attention and depth of analysis in testing.

Claims

1. A diagnostic tool for determining a cognitive state of a subject, the diagnostic tool comprising:

a battery of tests for measuring a neurological parameter;

an interface allowing a clinician to access said battery of tests and administer said battery of tests to a subject, said subject generating data in response to said administered battery of tests;

a processor for processing said generated data; and

a report generated by said processor and based on said generated data, wherein said report provides a view of said data within ranges and sub-ranges of cognitive ability.

2. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said various ranges and sub-ranges include normal, probably normal, probably pathological and pathological.

3. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said cognitive state is presence or absence of a particular disease.

4. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said cognitive state is a general measure of cognitive normalcy or abnormalcy.

5. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said battery of tests include tests for cognitive skills, said cognitive skills selected from the group consisting of memory, attention, concentration, hand-eye coordination, information processing speed, visual spatial perception, verbal ability, general intelligence, and executive function.

6. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said data are normalized for specific populations, said specific populations selected from the group consisting of age, education level, language, ethnicity, gender, handedness, socioeconomic status, world region or country of origin, world region or country of testing, history of prior computer use, degree of computer use, and combinations thereof.

7. The diagnostic tool of claim 1, wherein said ranges and sub-ranges are calculated based on normative data collected no longer than two years prior to a time of said report generation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein report further includes an indication of general intelligence.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said report is a report of general cognitive ability.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said report further includes an indication of general intelligence.

9. A method for providing a report to a clinician, the method comprising:

obtaining an index score for a cognitive skill;

graphing said index score in relation to a set of cutoff numbers, wherein said cutoff numbers define ranges and sub-ranges of cognitive ability; and

presenting the graphed index scores in a report format to the clinician.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said report is disease-specific.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said ranges and sub-ranges include normal cognitive ability, abnormal cognitive ability, and probable normal and abnormal cognitive abilities.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said obtaining is done by providing a battery of tests on a computer based testing system.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said cutoff numbers are calculated based on data collected from expert diagnoses.

16. A method for providing sub-ranges of cognitive ability, the method comprising:

providing a standard determination of cognitive ability to an individual;

administering a battery of tests designed to measure cognitive ability to said individual;

determining a cognitive ability of said individual based on results of said battery of tests at each of several spread values;

comparing said determined cognitive ability with said standard determination so as to collect a comparison measure at said several spread values;

repeating said providing, administering, determining and comparing until multiple comparison measures are collected;

optimizing said multiple comparison measures; and

choosing a set of cutoff spread values based on said optimization.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said standard determination is an accepted clinical determination.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said battery of tests is a computer based battery of tests.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said cognitive ability is general cognitive ability.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said cognitive ability is a disease-specific measure.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said repeating is done until a statistically significant number of multiple comparison measures are collected.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said comparison measures are measures of false positives, false negatives and correct responses.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said optimizing comprises setting a best balance measure of false positives and false negatives.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said choosing comprises setting a cutoff between abnormal and probably abnormal based on a percentage of false positives.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein said choosing comprises setting a cutoff between normal and probably normal based on a percentage of false negatives.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein said choosing comprises setting a cutoff between normal and abnormal at said best balance measure.

27. A method for determining a set of sub-ranges of a cognitive determination, the method comprising:

comparing data from a standard determination with data from a testing scheme;

calculating a number of false positives and false negatives from said comparison; and

choosing said sub-ranges at a point of a minimized number of said false positives, a point of a minimized number of said false negatives, and a point of best balance between said numbers false positives and false negatives.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said choosing includes choosing said sub-ranges at particular spread values.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said point of best balance is calculated as an absolute value of a difference between said false positives and false negatives.