CURRICULUM
Mi sono laureato in Medicina e Chirurgia e successivamente specializzato in Neurologia presso l’Università degli Studi di Pavia. Nel 2004 ho ottenuto un diploma di Master of Science in Clinical Neuroscience, presso l’Institute of Neurology, University College of London, con una tesi sul ruolo del sistema di segnale del acido retinoico sulla rigenerazione neuronale nei gangli sensitivi in un modello animale di ratto sottoposto ad assonotomia. Come primo impiego ho lavorato all’IRCCS “Fondazione Maugeri” di Pavia, dove mi sono occupato di assistenza e di ricerca di base sulla Sclerosi Laterale Amiotrofica. Mantenendo il mio interesse alle malattie neurodegenerative, nel 2008 ho trasferito la mia attività lavorativa all’ospedale di Bergamo (attualmente denominato “ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII”). Come principale interesse mi sono dedicato ai disturbi del movimento e in particolare alla malattia di Parkinson; mi occupo della diagnosi e del trattamento di tale malattia dalle fasi iniziali fino quello avanzate, per cui ho maturato esperienza nella terapia di stimolazione cerebrale profonda (Deep Brain Stimulation – DBS) di cui sono referente per l’ospedale. Ho approfondito l’argomento ottenendo un Master Universitario di II livello in “Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Disorders and other Neurodegenerative Diseases” presso l’Istituto di Neurologia “Carlo Besta”, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano. Negli ultimi anni, tramite una collaborazione con il Dipartimento di Microelettronica, Facoltà di Ingegneria, dell’Università di Bergamo, ho contribuito allo sviluppo di un sistema di sensori indossabili che possano avere utilità nel rilevare i parametri motori dei pazienti con malattia di Parkinson. Al fine di ottimizzare il loro impiego in clinica, dal 2018 ho intrapreso il percorso di Dottorato di ricerca in Neuroscienze presso l’Università di Milano-Bicocca.
PROGETTO DI RICERCA
Motor and cognitive scores progression in Parkinson’s Disease.
- Curriculum: Neuroscienze Cliniche
- Tutor: Prof. Carlo Ferrarese
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in humans. It is estimated that there are 6,3 millions people with Parkinson’s disease spreaded around the world. In accordance with the available statistics, in Europe there are 1.2 millions of PD patients. Age of onset is usually above 60 year, and incidence of the disease increases with age involving about 3 % of people with more than 80 years. Nonetheless, about 1 person in ten receives a PD diagnosis before his 50’s.
For demographic and social reasons, it has been calculated that in the Western Countries the elderly population will significantly increase in the next decades. Being the neurodegenerative diseases directly age related, it follows that over the same period we will be facing a significant increase of such of diseases. In the absence of curative therapies, we must therefore study new methods for efficacely and inexpencely manage them.
Parkinon’s Disease is clinically defined by its motor signs (muscular plastic hypertonia; slowness and depletion fo movements; tremors) in different combinations among them, usually asimmetrically, and with variable trait patient by patient. Moreover, PD represents a paradimg for observing the gait, which is a general motor function studied in clinical practice to assess disease progression and its response to treatments, both farmacological and physiotherapeutic. In fact, in PD patients we may observe gait alterations: step asymmetry, augmented variability and slowing of pace; particularly these two variables associated to an higher risk of falls.
Motor symptoms are usually quantified with a specific clinical scale: Movement Disorder Society – Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor score (MDS-UPDRS part III). There are few studies which analyzed the UPDRS-III variations along time in PD patients. Whereas, for the clinical assessment of gait clinicians generally use qualitative descriptions or measure the speed of gait (i.e. TUG or eTUG) or the distance covered (i.e. 6MWT) in standardized tests. The use of sensors and gait analysis laboratories are limited to experimental contexts.
This project aims to measure the motor changes in Parkinson’s disease along one year of observation, comparing clinical scores to automated data from wearable electronic devices. As secondary endpoints we will evaluate a possible correlation between gait motor features and cognitive functions changes in the same patients; notably, to detect those specific motor issues which at an early stage may disclose an initial cognitive impairment; otherwise to detect which of them may be related to the risk of falls.
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