Multiple PhD defences
Multiple people within our CONTRAST network will soon defend their thesis:
On Friday September 27th, at 16:00 in the Agnietenkapel in Amsterdam, Natalie LeCouffe, who performed work on the de MR CLEAN NO IV, will defend her thesis ‘Refining Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke’.
On September 30th in Nijmegen, Lotte Sondag (PhD student and coordinating researcher of the DIST pilot study) will defend her thesis entitled ‘Towards new acute treatments for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhages: The role of surgery and perihematomal edema’.
On October 1st, at 14:15, in the academiegebouw in Utrecht, Bart Franx, working within WP1, will defend his thesis on “Translational Neuroimaging of Cerebral Perfusion after Acute Ischemic Stroke”
We wish them all best of luck!
Hora est.
Young Talent Travel Grants awarded
July 2024
In May, we opened the first round of the CONTRAST2 Young Talent Travel Grants, which gives young CONTRAST researchers the opportunity to go abroad for two months to establish a collaboration.
We received many excellent applications, which were carefully evaluated. Based on the available budget for this call, we were able to fund three projects.
We congratulate Abel Sandmann, Bart Franx and Shan Sui Nio on their grants and look forward to seeing the results of their projects.
Next year in May, we will open another call for these Young Talent Travel Grants and encourage all young researchers with an idea for a project to submit their proposal.
Invitation fifth NESA symposium November 27th
We cordially invite you to attend the fifth symposium of the Netherlands Experimental Stroke Alliance (NESA) on November 27th in the TechMed Centre at the University of Twente, Enschede. The final program is attached below. We are confident that the program holds potential to inspire both fundamental and clinical researchers, and facilitate collaborations.
To register, please send an email to i.mulder1@amsterdamumc.nl
Looking forward to meeting you all in Enschede,
The NESA board,
Jeannette Hofmeijer, Rick Dijkhuizen, Inge Mulder and Maximilian Wiesmann
100th patient included in DIST
June 4th 2024
Yesterday, the 100th patient was inducted into the DIST! What a milestone we have achieved together. We would like to thank everyone for their efforts in the study. On to the next 100!
Kind regards,
The DIST team!
Fabiano Cavalcante wins 2024-Ziedses des Plantes Philips price
On May 29th, 2024, Fabiano Cavalcante has won the 2024-Ziedses des Plantes Philips price. Each year, Philips, together with the NVIR, presents the Ziedses des Plantes-Philips Prize to two individuals who have completed the best research in the field of Radiological Imaging and Oncological Intervention Techniques. Fabiano is a PhD student, working within WP3c. He received this award for his work within IRIS on “Intravenous thrombolysis before endovascular treatment in patients with carotid tandem lesions: individual participant data meta-analysis”.
A big round of applause and congratulations to Fabiano for this amazing work!
CONTRAST2 annual meeting
Monday April 15th we gathered for the CONTRAST annual meeting in Leiden. It was amazing to learn about the progress made and to see the collaboration between the disciplins and workpackages really taking off! Together we work on improving the outcome of patients with acute stroke.
Drug classes affecting intracranial aneurysm risk: Genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization
01-03-2024
We want to congratulate Mark Bakker with his latest publication, linked to WP1 – Preclinical and experimental studies
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23969873241234134
With his CONTRAST Young Talent Fellowship, Mark Bakker linked antidepressant drug usage to an increased risk of intracranial aneurysms (IA) and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (ASAH).
Utilizing a genetic approach, the authors aimed to find drug classes of which their usage might lower the risk of IA or ASAH. The authors followed a two-step approach. First, overlap between genetic risk factors for IA and the usage of drugs from several drug classes was established. Second, a more in-depth genetic approach was used to assess causality and therapeutic potential of the selected drug classes. The rationale behind the most striking finding is as follows: some individuals, due to their genetic makeup, respond strongly to the effects of antidepressant drugs. Other individuals are less responsive without knowing this, thus mimicking a placebo group. Persons who are exposed to antidepressant drugs and are responsive, were found to be at higher risk of developing IA and ASAH than the placebo-like group. Next, the magnitude of effect of antidepressant drugs on IA and ASAH risk should be determined to assess the clinical utility of these findings.
This study underscores the importance of further research to understand the genetic underpinnings that might link certain drug responses to the risk of stroke, offering a new perspective on preventive strategies in stroke management.
The 100th patient has been included in the CASES trial!
13-02-2024
This weekend the 100th patient for the CASES trial was included in Rijnstate Hospital Arnhem! The recruitment rate is above our expectations and is reassuring that we will reach our goal of 600 inclusions before July 2026.
We would like to thank all participating sites in the Netherlands and Belgium for their hard work and effort! And thanks to the funding agencies, ZonMW & KCE and all collaborators in the CONTRAST consortium for making the CASES trial possible.
For more information, please visit our website: www.cases-trial.eu
First patient included in CASES trial
24-07-2023
Dear Investigators,
On behalf of the CASES coordinating team, we would like to inform you about the current status of the CASES trial. At the end of May 2023, we received ethical approval in Belgium and the Netherlands.
During the ESOC conference in Munchen 2023, Louise Maes and Theodora van Elk presented the CASES poster. The first investigator meeting in Munchen was also a success, with lively discussions about the trial protocol and valuable input from the attendees.
In the meantime, the eCRF in Castor was build in close cooperation Jasper Daems from WP10, meticulously tested and now live!
So far, site initiation visits were performed for 5 centers in Belgium and in 2 centers in the Netherlands. In the next months several centers will be initiated.
On July 5th 2023, directly after the site initiation in UMC Groningen, the first patient was included!
Click this link tot the CASES website.
Safety and technical efficacy of minimally-invasive endoscopy-guided surgery for ICH (DIST)
08-05-2023
We are very pleased to announce the latest publication of the DIST pilot study group in Acta Neurochirugica (Wien):
Safety and technical efficacy of early minimally invasive endoscopy-guided surgery for intracerebral haemorrhage: the Dutch Intracerebral haemorrhage Surgery Trial pilot study | SpringerLink
In preparation of the Dutch ICH Surgery Trial, that already randomized its first patients, we engaged in ensuring the safety and technical efficacy of minimally invasive endoscopy guided surgery for intracerebral hemorrhage within 8 hours after symptom onset.
We need to progress our work within the DIST to determine whether this intervention also improves functional outcome of patients with this detrimental disease with its current high mortality and morbidity.