Stroke pilot study results to be announced at University of Leicester

Preliminary results from a major multi-centre UK pilot trial into Stroke are to be announced at the University of Leicester on 22 April.

Stroke is the third highest cause of death in the United Kingdom, and the single biggest cause of adult disability, with over 300,000 individuals living in the UK with moderate or severe stroke related disability.

People from South Asian groups are potentially at higher risk of suffering from a stroke, and this is particularly important locally given the make up of Leicester’s population.

Findings from research co-ordinated at the University of Leicester will be discussed at an inaugural lecture given by Professor Tom Robinson, Professor of Stroke Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester.

The lecture, Time is Brain: to treat BP or not - is that the only question?, will be held on Tuesday 22nd April 2008 at 5.30pm in the Ken Edwards Building, Lecture Theatre 1. It is open and free to the public.

Professor Robinson said: “The Department of Health has recently invested substantial monies into research infrastructure for stroke in England, and the University of Leicester and the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust co-host the Trent Stroke Research Network, comprising centres in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Lincoln, Kettering and Northampton, as well as the co-ordinating centre in Leicester.

“I am Director of the Trent Stroke Research Network and I will discuss the importance of the Stroke Research Network for future acute treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of stroke, with examples of ongoing clinical trials.”

In particular, Professor Robinson will consider two major multi-centre United Kingdom Trials co-ordinated by the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences in the University of Leicester. The ‘Controlling Hypertension and Hypotension Immediately Post-stroke Trial’ has recently completed its pilot phase, and preliminary results will be discussed. Together with the ongoing ‘Continuing Or Stop post-Stroke Anti-hypertensives Collaborative Study’, these trials focus on an important clinical management dilemma, namely the treatment of high blood pressure in the acute phases of stroke. Blood pressure management, together with associated disturbances in cardiovascular autonomic control, have been a long term research interest of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, and Professor Robinson’s lecture will highlight the significant contribution that past and ongoing research in Leicester has helped in answering these questions.