Utrecht, 22 November 2022.

De Hartstichting en Hersenstichting investeren EUR 4 miljoen in grootschalig onderzoek mogelijk om de kans op een goed herstel na een herseninfarct, hersenvliesbloeding of hersenbloeding te vergroten.  Het gaat om een vervolgfinanciering van het CONTRAST-consortium vanuit het Impuls-programma dat gestart is in 2017. Het CONTRAST-consortium is een unieke samenwerking waarin alle Nederlandse Universitair Medische Centra en regionale ziekenhuizen samenwerken.

Klinische studies

De komende vijf jaar gaat het CONTRAST-consortium de kans op een goed herstel vergroten bij patiënten met een beroerte door het ontwikkelen van nieuwe behandelingen in het laboratorium, door onderzoek naar het verbeteren van de logistiek voor de behandeling, en door het starten van zes grote klinische studies. Patiënten vanuit de Universitair Medische Centra, maar ook vanuit diverse grote regionale ziekenhuizen, worden geïncludeerd in deze studies. Alle studies zullen worden ondersteund door een centrale beoordeling en statistische analyses van de CT- en MRI-scans die van de hersenen zullen worden gemaakt.

Internationale richtlijnen

Het onderzoeksprogramma wordt gecoördineerd door hoogleraar neuroradiologie prof. dr. Aad van der Lugt, Erasmus MC Rotterdam en hoogleraar acute neurologie prof. dr. Yvo Roos van het Amsterdam UMC. “Wij zijn ontzettend dankbaar dat wij het vertrouwen van de Hartstichting en de Hersenstichting hebben gekregen,” zegt Van der Lugt. “Met de versterking van het Nederlands onderzoek naar diagnose en behandeling van beroertes hopen wij het verschil te maken voor mensen die dit gaan ervaren.” Roos vervolgt: “Binnen CONTRAST zijn wij zeer trots op het feit dat Nederlands onderzoek de behandeling van beroerten wereldwijd heeft veranderd. Op basis van ons onderzoek zijn de internationale richtlijnen veranderd. De ambitie is om de komende vijf jaar opnieuw een dergelijke bijdrage te kunnen leveren.”

Voor meer informatie:

• Gezamenlijke persbericht van de Hartstichting en Hersenstichting:
• https://professionals.hartstichting.nl/actualiteiten/grootschalig-onderzoek-voor-snellere-en-betere-beh
• https://www.hersenstichting.nl/nieuws/hersenstichting-en-hartstichting-bundelen-krachten-voor-beroertezorg

Dear all,
In addition to in-person attendance at ICAS 2022, we now also offer virtual attendance to the conference.

Ofcourse we would be most delighted to meet you in-person at ICAS, tickets for virtual attendance can now be purchased for only 75 euros via the following link.

The ICAS 2022 Conference takes place on Friday 16 September and Saturday 17 September 2022. The Conference will be held in the Novotel Rotterdam Brainpark.

Best regards,
Conference Organising Committee ICAS 2022

Dear all,

Register now for ICAS 2022 in Rotterdam, 16-17 September 2022, and don’t miss out on the latest research updates in the field of intracranial atherosclerosis.

Highlights include updates about the latest trials targeting intracranial atherosclerosis, an interactive session on the current AAN and ESO guidelines on intracranial atherosclerosis, a keynote lecture by Prof. Louis Caplan, and many more!

Please have a look at the full program here, and register! Best regards,
ICAS 2022 Conference Organizing Team

Dear all,

Please don’t forget to register for the ICAS 2022 in Rotterdam. Check www.icasrotterdam.com for the final program.

Accreditation for this event has been applied for.

Feel free to forward this message to people who would like to join us at ICAS Rotterdam 2022!

Best regards,

Daniel Bos
on behalf of the Organizing Committee ICAS 2022

CONTRAST investigators and collaborators are invited to the CONTRAST consortium meeting on 22 September 2022 in Maastricht. At the meeting we will update each other on the progress made and the plans for the future. We ask you to register using the form below before 1 September 2022.

The preliminary program is available here and subjected to change.

As it has been a long time since we got together in a live meeting we highly encourage everyone (PhD student in particular) to share their results and present a poster during the breaks. The consortium meeting is a perfect opportunity to share your (preliminary) results and discuss your ideas among clinical and non-clinical CONTRAST investigators. Additionally, this event provides a perfect overview of the different research lines in CONTRAST aiming at improving the outcome for stroke patients.

CONTRAST workpackage Leaders, PhD students & Postdocs and research nurses are invited for the online CONTRAST intra-consortium meeting on 10 December 2021.

The purpose of this meeting is to bring together the CONTRAST investigators to celebrate the results we booked, discuss the progress and share best practices.

The preliminary program can be found here.

Please register online here before 26 November 2021.

Update: due to COVID regulations, the meeting will be held ONLINE. All registered colleagues will receive a link and program by email.

CONTRAST workpackage Leaders, PhD students & Postdocs and research nurses are invited for the online CONTRAST intra-consortium meeting on 1 June 2021.

The purpose of this meeting is to bring together the CONTRAST investigators to celebrate the results we booked, discuss the progress and share best practices.

The preliminary program can be found here.

Please register online here before 25 May 2021.

The CONTRAST Young Talent Program invites all young stroke investigators (PhD students and postdocs) to join for the first CONTRAST Young Talent Meetup on April 28th, 2021 at 17:00. At this informal and virtual meetup you will get the opportunity to pitch your research, meet your peers, and discuss the challenges and opportunities all young investigators face in their careers. 

At this meeting, Jeannette Hofmeijer will talk about how she successfully combines applied clinical work with fundamental studies. Jeannette Hofmeijer was trained as a neurologist and as intensive care physician at University Medical Center Utrecht. She obtained a PhD at the Biomedical MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group of Utrecht University on the topic of edema formation in cerebral ischemia (2007). Since 2009, she combines her work as a vascular neurologist in Rijnstate Hospital (Arnhem) with a research position at University of Twente on a 50-50 basis. She was appointed professor of Translational Neurophysiology in 2019.

Hofmeijer combines state of the art clinical studies with experimental research in in vitro and in silico models. Her group constitutes of medical doctors, technical physicians, engineers, and biologists. She believes that combining applied clinical with fundamental studies contributes to identification of clinically relevant new knowledge and technologies that will ultimately improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with cerebral ischemia.

After a short Q&A session with Jeannette we will meet-and-mingle in smaller groups. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to connect with your fellow young stroke investigators!

Please register online here before April 20th.

 The CONTRAST Young Talent Program invites all young stroke investigators (PhD students and postdocs) to join for the first CONTRAST Young Talent Meetup on January 27^th, 2021 at 17:00. At this informal and virtual meetup you will get the opportunity to pitch your research, meet your peers, and discuss the challenges and opportunities all young investigators face in their careers.  

At this meeting, Hester Lingsma, Associate Professor Medical Decision Making at Erasmus MC and workpackage leader in CONTRAST will set the stage by providing you with her perspectives on how to pursue the career you want. After a short Q&A session with Hester we will meet-and-mingle in smaller groups. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to connect with your fellow young stroke investigators! 

Please register online here before January 20th. 

On December 9th we hosted a total of 140 participants for the annual CONTRAST consortium meeting. Despite we the meeting was completely virtual we were able to pull off a great half day event with sessions on specific subjects related to acute stroke research such as: Methodology & data, Blood biomarkers, Preclinical trials, Scoring Systems and Imaging.

During the second part of the event we focused on discussing the results of the DIST pilot study, and an inspiring keynote lecture about minimally invasive surgery for ICH was delivered by Dr Christopher P Kellner of the IntraCerebral Hemorrhage program, Mt Sinai, New York. Besides providing a great overview of all the knowledge on minimally invasive surgery for ICH he also shared his knowledge and personal experience with this treatment procedure. Next, we discussed our plans for the DIST phase 3 RCT.

We look back at an inspiring event and thank all participants, hosts, chairs and speakers for their efforts! The recordings and presentations will become available via the CONTRAST website soon.

The slides and recordings are available at Rick van Nuland.