Movement Time Analyzer: A useful tool to evaluate bradykinesia and antiparkinsonian drugs in Parkinson's disease

We developed an electronic instrument, the Movement Time Analyzer (MTA), to detect the movement time (MT) in normal subjects and in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In normal subjects, the MT showed a positive correlation with the age of the subjects. In PD, the MT was larger in patients with severe PD than in patients with milder disease, and in these latter patients, the MT was larger on the more involved side with respect to the less involved side. Moreover, the MT was significantly more correlated to the bradykinesia than to the rigidity or to the tremor. After administration of antiparkinsonian drugs, the MT did not change after biperidene intake, but significantly improved after levodopa administration, and it was more sensitive than clinical scales to detect the improvement in motor disability due to levodopa. Moreover, the MT showed a higher predictive value than clinical scales to predict dopaminergic responsiveness to the chronic treatment. The MTA allows to know on-line whether the recorded MT is normal or pathologic, and calculates the onset, the magnitude and the duration of the response to dopaminergic drugs. Considering that the MTA detects the MT in a simple, reliable and objective manner, the MTA is particularly useful to assess bradykinesia and its modifications in multicenter trials on dopaminergic drugs.