Evaluation of Parkinson's disease early diagnosis using single-channel EEG features and auditory cognitive assessment.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) often presents with subtle early signs, making diagnosis difficult. F-DOPA PET imaging provides a reliable measure of dopaminergic function and is a primary tool for early PD diagnosis. This study aims to evaluate the ability of machine-learning (ML) extracted EEG features to predict F-DOPA results and distinguish between PD and non-PD patients. These features, extracted using a single-channel EEG during an auditory cognitive assessment, include EEG feature A0 associated with cognitive load in healthy subjects, and EEG feature L1 associated with cognitive task differentiation. Methods: Participants in this study are comprised of cognitively healthy patients who had undergone an F-DOPA PET scan as a part of their standard care ( Results: The prediction model correctly classified patients with unrevealed scores as positive F-DOPA. EEG feature A0 and the Delta band revealed distinct activity patterns separating between study groups, with controls displaying higher activity than PD patients. In controls, EEG feature L1 showed variations between resting state and high-cognitive load, an effect lacking in PD patients. Conclusion: Our findings exhibit the potential of single-channel EEG technology in combination with an auditory cognitive assessment to distinguish positive from negative F-DOPA PET scores. This approach shows promise for early PD diagnosis. Additional studies are needed to further verify the utility of this tool as a potential biomarker for PD.