Identification of saccadic components in spinocerebellar ataxia applying an independent component analysis algorithm

Anomalies in the oculomotor system are well known symptoms in different neurodegenerative diseases. It has been found that patients suffering from severe spino cerebellar ataxia type 2 show deterioration in the main parameters used to describe saccadic movements, specifically the slowing of horizontal saccadic eye movements. Besides, a combination of two components, named pulse and step, constitutes an accepted model of the saccadic generation system. In the present work, independent component analysis is applied in order to separate both pulse and step components, revealing significant differences in several parameters related to the morphology of these components between patients and control responses. Ten electro-oculographic records of spino cerebellar ataxia type 2 patients and ten control subjects were processed with the proposed algorithm with the aim of obtaining a correct diagnosis. The results obtained from these real experiments reveal the validity of the proposed approach as a classification tool for the diagnosis of this disease.