Xbox Kinect could be used to study MS, provide personalized evaluations

Millions of families have an Xbox Kinect sitting in the living room. Now, researchers are hoping to use that tool as a cheap, effective way to evaluate walking difficulties of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

The Kinect, made by Microsoft, is a 3D depth-sensing camera that is used for interactive games by studying the player's body movements. Researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, have developed a new algorithm that studies the unique gaits of MS patients to provide accurate physical evaluations.

"This tool may help the clinician provide a better diagnosis of gait pathology, and may be used to observe if a prescribed medication has been effective on the gait of the patient or not," said Farnood Gholami, lead researcher and postdoctoral fellow. "Our developed framework can likely be used for other diseases causing gait abnormalities as well, [such as] Parkinson's disease."

In a study of 10 MS patients matched with 10 patients of the same age and sex without MS, researchers found that the Kinect and associated algorithm were reproducible from visit to visit. The Kinect and algorithm mathematically defined each of the unique characteristic of the patients' gaits at different levels of severity, accurately determining the level of gait abnormality.

Daria Trojan, a physiatrist in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery working at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, said the Kinect and algorithm pair could be useful "to assess treatment effects of certain interventions such as rehabilitation or medication, and to document MS disease progression as reflected by gait deterioration. It may also be useful as a measure in clinical trials."