White Matter Connections and Memory: the STRATEGIC Study

King's College London

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Cognitive Impairment; Stroke; Memory Impairment

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03982147

K022113 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

KCH14-072

13/LO/1745 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 193 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

193 participants in 1 patient group

Stroke patients

Description:

Patients with recent ischaemic stroke