Digital Therapeutics for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: Current Trends and Future Perspectives

Comprehensive Summary

The mini-review by Jeong et al. highlights the potential use of Digital Therapeutics (DTx) in treating Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, two neurodegenerative diseases in which there is a scarcity of disease-modifying treatments. The authors have provided evidence from preclinical and clinical trials, as well as innovative uses in digital health, to review both pharmacological treatment and DTx for cognitive, motor, and behavioral symptoms. They have discussed different DTx platforms, such as cognitive training using virtual reality, digital neuropsychological assessment, rhythmic auditory stimulation, and mobile self-management applications for improving cognition, motor symptoms, adherence, and quality-of-life outcomes in patients with AD and PD. The authors have discussed the use of neurophysiological biomarkers like EEG and fNIRS to evaluate the success of DTx and disease progression. Although DTx has shown promise to be an effective, personalized, and accessible therapeutic strategy, it lacks validation in large-scale clinical studies, insight into biological mechanisms, and needs regulatory approval.

Outcomes and Implications

The significance of this review is the fact that it highlights digital therapeutics as a potentially useful alternative to pharmacologic treatment that works to slow down the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. DTx represents a non-invasive method of patient-centric treatment for AD and PD. These tools could aid in early detection of cognitive and motor decline, remote disease tracking, and complement other drug therapies via synergistic treatment strategies. Although most DTx for AD and PD remain in early clinical trial stages, the researchers suggest that DTx could be incorporated into routine clinical care soon as adjunctive therapies rather than standalone cures.