White Matter Connections and Memory: the STRATEGIC Study

NCT ID: NCT03982147

Last Updated: 2019-06-11

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Total Enrollment: 193 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-04-11
• Study Completion Date: 2022-04-30

Brief Summary

In patients who have had a stroke, memory problems are common. Some patients with memory problems improve over the first year after stroke, but recovery is unpredictable. The STRATEGIC study assesses patients with recent stroke and follows them up after one year. The study uses cognitive testing and advanced MRI to understand the brain's mechanism for recovery from memory problems and to identify factors that may predict later recovery.

Detailed Description

Memory breakdown in older age is a major challenge for medical research, with an increasing burden in personal, societal and fiscal terms. Stroke is an important cause. Memory depends on widespread networks in the brain which are bound together by white matter connections, which essentially act as the wiring of brain networks. This project uses a technique called diffusion tensor MRI to investigate these connections and their relationship to brain function and patterns of memory impairment after stroke.

Previous research showed that a tract called the fornix was most important in the healthy brain and in ageing. However, in individuals at an early stage of memory decline alternative pathways became disproportionately more important. This led to the idea that individuals with early memory decline might be especially vulnerable to injury to these alternative tracts from stroke. The purpose of this project is to test this idea.

The project focuses on patients with recent stroke. Participants undergo MRI, including diffusion tensor MRI, and in-depth testing of memory and other cognitive functions. The pattern of damage to temporal lobe connections in the brain will be assessed and related to the impact of brain infarction on memory. Analysis will determine how undamaged tracts contribute to recovery over one year. Finally, cutting edge computational image analysis techniques will be applied to try and predict memory profile in more detail and extract maximum information about prognosis from brain images.

Conditions

Stroke; Cognitive Impairment; Memory Impairment

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: CASE_ONLY
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Stroke patients

Patients with recent ischaemic stroke

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Aged over 50 years
• Recent ischaemic stroke
• English is first language

Exclusion Criteria

• Previous large artery infarct
• Major neurological or psychiatric condition
• Moderate to severe head injury (Mayo classification)
• Dementia
• Severe cardiac failure
• Active malignancy

• Minimum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

King's College London

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Dr Mike O'Sullivan

Chief Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Michael J O'Sullivan, MBBS,PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

King's College London and University of Queensland

Other Identifiers

13/LO/1745

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

K022113

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

KCH14-072

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id