Heuron said Tuesday that a study has demonstrated the performance of HeuronIPD and HeuronNI, its assistive AI solutions for diagnosing Parkinson's disease, with HeuronIPD achieving an accuracy rate of more than 90 percent.

The study was published in the international journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Huron IPD determines the presence of abnormalities in the microsomal region of MRI images, and Heuron NI provides quantitative analysis. As Parkinson's disease progresses, dopamine neurons are damaged, leading to loss of the nigrosine region. Changes in this region are a key biomarker for diagnosing Parkinson's disease.

Professor Ling Ling Chan of Singapore General Hospital, a world-renowned authority on Parkinson's disease, led the study. Her team of researchers has been studying nearly 200 people, including Parkinson's patients and healthy individuals, since last year.

The research team said the study showed that while changes in the negrosomes were previously only visible to a doctor's eye, having AI assist with objective analysis can improve diagnostic accuracy.

In addition, Huron IPD and Heuron NI can be used to train medical staff, including general practitioners and specialists, and are expected to be used as an alternative for medical staff when there is a shortage of skilled specialists or PET scans are difficult.

“Huron IPD/NI is a high-performing solution that is not inferior to the judgment of neuro-head and neck radiologists,” the research team said. “It can directly benefit the healthcare system through AI's objective evaluation. In addition to the clinical utility of the solution, its value as a physician assistant seems outstanding.”

Heuron CEO Shin Dong-hoon said, “Recently, there has been a growing demand for MRI examinations of the midbrain to analyze various types of Parkinson's syndrome in Singapore. Previously, PET and SPECT imaging tests were the gold standard, but there is a clear shift to MRI, which is more accessible and affordable.

Shin added that Heuronn would continue building more clinical evidence around Huron Singapore to ensure its solutions are well-established in the medical field.