Improved Survival after Stroke

Abstract

320 lights of their projects. These lectures illustrated the potentials of multidisciplinary research activities that involve cooperations between European industry, basic science research institutes and university hospitals. A talk was also given on behalf of the Stroke Alliance for Europe, which is a network of patient organizations from 15 European countries. It was in this context that the discussion of stroke research priorities in the European Union took place between experts in clinical stroke management, basic science, stroke research and industry. Several scientific officers from the European Commission also attended the meeting. Special emphasis was given to topics spanning different disciplines that require a concerted effort to make progress, thus illustrating European added value by combining resources from different countries. The idea of the Commission was to exchange views on the topic of stroke and to identify research activities that could potentially result in major advances in the areas of stroke prevention, treatment and recovery. This strategy has proven to be a successful instrument of the European Commission for elucidating top research priorities in a diversity of medical disciplines and is tuned to the European Union’s commitment to support added-value translational activities. Both the goals and approach differ from those taken by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Here, a Stroke Progress Review Group was appointed to provide a detailed report of priorities for stroke research. Numerous meetings were organized over a period of more than a year to compose a document comprising over 130 pages. It may be argued that this approach is more comprehensive. However, whether all issues that were identified in 2002 have actually been addressed and whether research efforts have resulted in significant advancements in stroke care will become evident in a current NINDS initiative to update these stroke research priorities. The aim of the Stroke Workshop afternoon discussion in Brussels was not to address all research topics in the field of stroke. The invited experts identified the top research priorities that address pressing basic, clinical and industrial needs in the stroke field. Although ischemic stroke was identified as the most promising in this respect, intracerebral hemorrhage was also discussed and the important advances that have been made in the field of hemostasis of intracerebral hemorrhage were duly recognized (see section on ‘Optimizing the Delivery of Stroke Care’ in the paper). The participants of the Workshop hope that answers to the questions posed by these research priorities will significantly help in reducing the stroke burden to the European Union.