DISTAL results published!
While endovascular therapy is standard treatment for acute ischemic stroke patients with a large vessel occlusion since the publication of our MR CLEAN trial in 2015, the benefit of this treatment in medium or distal vessel occlusion remains unsure. The DISTAL trial, published in NEJM 5 February 2025, could not demonstrate clinical benefit of endovascular treatment for stroke caused by occlusion of medium or distal vessels. The DISTAL trial in total included 543 patients. Eight Dutch CONTRAST centers participated in this international trial, led by Swiss researchers. The results are important and raise additional questions. CONTRAST stays involved and will participate in further analyses of the trial results.
We congratulate Julie Staals and Adriaan van Es, Work Package leaders of CONTRAST2 WP3a, and drivers of the DISTAL trial within the Netherlands, with the published results!
Publications can be found via the links below:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2408954
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2411668
Henk Marquering in BNR podcast “De Technoloog”
Henk Marquering, involved in the valorisation of CONTRAST2, joined this interesting episode of the podcast De Technoloog by BNR (https://www.bnr.nl/podcast/de-technoloog/10567176/ai-in-de-gezondheidszorg-doorbraak-of-overgewaardeerd), were he talks about the use of AI in healthcare.
* Podcast only in Dutch
CASES protocol paper published!
We would hereby like to inform you that the CASES protocol has been published in the European Stroke Journal! The publication is available via: https://doi.org/10.1177/23969873251319941.
Congratulations to Theo van Walsum, and his application partners on receiving funding for their program on “Public-Private Collaboration for Novel Technologies for Acute Stroke”
Scientists from Erasmus MC, Amsterdam UMC and Delft University of Technology will jointly receive four million euros from Health~Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, on behalf of the Dutch CONTRAST Consortium. This funding will be used to develop new technologies for stroke care. “These are applications that use advanced measuring methods, artificial intelligence and digital twins’, says Theo van Walsum of the Radiology & Nuclear Medicine department, and work package lead of WP10 “Research infrastructure for data management”. These new applications and technologies are desperately needed and will also contribute to better treatment.
For more information, see also: https://www.health-holland.com/program/PPCONTRAST#:~:text=In%20Public%2DPrivate%20CONTRAST%20(COllaboration,characterization%2C%20and%20treatment%20of%20patients
Inauguration Prof. dr. Julie Staals
Last Friday, February 14th, dr. Julie Staals was appointed professor of Neurovascular Diseases in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, in the auditorium of Maastricht University. During this ceremony she gave her inaugural speech with the title “on microadventure”. Julie is work package lead of CONTRAST2 WP3a, working in an international collaboration on “EnDovascular therapy plus best medical treatment (BMT) versus BMT alone for MedIum VeSsel Occlusion sTroke – a prAgmatic, international, multicentre, randomized triaL (DISTAL)“
We congratulate Julie with this special occasion and amazing achievement.
For more information, see also; https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/inaugural-lecture-prof-dr-julie-staals
Blog-post by American Heart Association featuring a CONTRAST2 related publication.
Last week we received news from the American Heart Association that a CONTRAST2 related article published in Stroke, “Endovascular thrombectomy alone for large vessel occlusion: a cost-effectiveness evaluation based on meta-analyses,” is featured on Stroke’s blog, Blogging Stroke.
Blogging Stroke highlights high-impact studies published in Stroke. In addition to article summaries, Blogging Stroke includes interviews with authors of recently published Stroke articles and keeps a pulse on the latest happenings in the stroke field through coverage of conferences, including the European Stroke Organisation Conference and the International Stroke Conference. Blog posts are written primarily by a group of stroke fellows and other early career researchers, and thus the blog fosters the involvement of the younger members of the stroke community with the journal and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
The posts could help clinicians take care of patients and researchers think of new projects. Through the blog, the American Hearth Association wants to engage current Stroke readers, as well as medical students, residents, and fellows interested in cerebrovascular disease; in other words, the future leaders of the field of stroke.
To view the blog post, please visit: https://www.ahajournals.org/do/10.1161/blog.20250103.349556
150e patient geïncludeerd in DIST
Dec 2024
Afgelopen maand is de 150e patiënt geïncludeerd in de DIST (Dutch ICH Surgery TRIAL), wat betekent dat ze over de 25% van het beoogd aantal studiedeelnemers zitten!
Een mooie prestatie van dit hard werkende team! Gefeliciteerd!
Last month, the 150th patient was included in the DIST (Dutch ICH Surgery TRIAL), which means they included over 25% of the study participants! A beautiful achievement from this hard working team! Congratulations!
Life time award for professor Gert Kwakkel
On Wednesday 4 December, Professor of Neurorehabilitation Gert Kwakkel received the prestigious ‘Princess Margaret Memorial Lecture Award’, a kind of ‘lifetime achievement award’ for his scientific research in the field of stroke. After receiving the ‘award letter’ made by Margaret’s son ‘Lord Snowdon’, of the British Royal Family, he delivered a plenary lecture at the UK Stroke Forum Congress (UKSF) in Liverpool in front of a large audience. The UKSF is the largest multidisciplinary platform for stroke researchers and practitioners. (For more information on the conference, see https://www.stroke.org.uk/professionals/uk-stroke-forum)
Successful Young Talent meeting
On Thursday October 3rd, the CONTRAST2 young talents gathered in Utrecht for an educational afternoon program including a presentation on valorisation and a workshop on time management. After this intellectual endeavour they were rewarded with a nice pizza and drinks.
It was great to see so many of our hard-working PhD students coming together to share knowledge and spend time together.
Publication 2 year follow up MR CLEAN LATE
In September, in Lancet Neurology, a paper is published discussing the results of the 2-year follow up of the MR CLEAN LATE study.
We want to congratulate all authors with this publication!
Huijberts I, Pinckaers FME, Olthuis SGH, van Kuijk SMJ, Postma AA, Boogaarts HD, Roos YBWEM, Majoie CBLM, van der Lugt A, Dippel DWJ, van Zwam WH, van Oostenbrugge RJ; MR CLEAN-LATE investigators.Lancet Neurol. 2024 Sep;23(9):893-900