Advances in Stroke 2009

Advances in Stroke Advances in Stroke 2009

2009 will be remembered as the year that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) revealed both their promise and limitations as an approach to understand the genetic architecture of stroke. The promise of GWAS lies in their extraordinary power to detect novel biologic loci that, if replicated, can serve as markers for novel genes, proteins, and ultimately mechanisms of disease. In this regard, s...

Advances in Stroke Advances in Health Policy and Outcomes 2009

A number of important studies have been published in 2009 providing further information about the most clinically and cost-effective ways of delivering care across the whole stroke pathway. From previous work in Oxford and elsewhere, it has been shown that patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) can be prioritized into those at high risk and low risk of going on to develop stroke. Rothwel...

Advances in Stroke Advances in Emerging Therapies 2009

Advances in Stroke Advances in Prevention and Health Services Delivery 2009

It is estimated that only about half of patients currently receive therapies of proven value in reducing stroke risk. The reasons for this “treatment gap” are varied and complex but represent important missed opportunities for prevention. For example, a cohort study found that high adherence to antihypertensive drugs lowered the risk of cerebrovascular disease events by 22% (rate ratio 0.78; 95...

Advances in imaging 2009.

Imaging remains a mainstay of stroke diagnosis and treatment. 2009 brought much that was new: increased scrutiny of the safety of imaging; evidence of improved technical capabilities of imaging; new findings based on imaging; and as a result of the above, evidence that the field has definite needs. We will briefly cover each of these in turn.