Overview of methods and available tools used in complex brain disorders

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Medical Informatics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Complex brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's dementia, sleep disorders, and epilepsy, pose significant health and socioeconomic challenges.
• Existing literature reviews often focus on single disorders or data types, limiting comprehensive diagnostic support.
• There is a need for integrated approaches to diagnose and manage these prevalent conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive literature review of methods for diagnosing multiple complex brain disorders.
• To identify and review tools capable of processing diverse data types (EEG, actigraphy, MRI) for improved diagnostic accuracy.
• To highlight the benefits and limitations of current diagnostic and data processing tools.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across multiple databases.
• Inclusion of studies focusing on Alzheimer's dementia, sleep disorders, and epilepsy.
• Analysis of tools for processing electroencephalography (EEG), actigraphy, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.

Main Results:

• Identified a gap in comprehensive reviews covering multiple brain disorders and data types.
• Cataloged existing methods and tools for diagnosing Alzheimer's dementia, sleep disorders, and epilepsy.
• Evaluated the capabilities of tools in processing multimodal data for differential diagnosis.

Conclusions:

• This review provides the first comprehensive overview of methods and tools for diagnosing multiple complex brain disorders using diverse data.
• The findings can guide the development of integrated diagnostic platforms.
• Further research is needed to address the limitations of existing tools and enhance diagnostic precision.