Month: December 2017

Following the successful bid for funding from the European Commission, the PRESTIGE-AF Consortium members came together for the project’s kick-off meeting which took place on Wednesday 6^th December 2017 and hosted by Imperial College London.

Representatives from each of the project’s partner institutions travelled to London to attend the first annual meeting of this exciting new initiative, which aims to help prevent stroke in patients with existing conditions.

Held at the historic Royal Geographical Society, some of the world’s leading experts began discussions centred on the design and delivery of the first steps to begin their research to achieve the project goals.

Our Principal Investigator Professor Roland Veltkamp said: “Prevention of stroke is challenging in vulnerable stroke patients with multiple disorders and interacting risks. It’s this complexity that makes it difficult to work out the best individual preventive strategy for a particular patient. Working with our international partners through the PRESTIGE-AF initiative we hope to tackle some of the unmet needs of these patients and develop more personalised treatments. Prevention is key, and ultimately we aim to prevent stroke and the impact it has on patients’ lives.”

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For more information about PRESTIGE-AF, please contact us.

A new 6,9 million euro initiative has been launched with the aim of enhancing more established measures around Stroke prevention in patients with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation (AF) who have previously had a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain (termed intracerebral haemorrhage or ICH).

Financed by the European Commission, the PREvention of Stroke in Intracerebral haemorrhaGE survivor with Atrial Fibrillation (PRESTIGE-AF) brings together scientists and clinicians across Europe to reduce the risk of further Stroke in this subset of patients.

Stroke is one of the largest Public Health challenges worldwide, being the most common cause of adult-acquired disability, the second leading cause of death and the second most frequent cause of dementia.

As stroke is a disease of the elderly, its societal impact is expected to further increase in the coming decades due to the ageing of the population. Importantly, stroke is a heterogeneous disease comprising various subtypes with distinct mechanisms. Thus, the variability of individual risks demands that more specifically targeted and better-personalised approaches are developed to tailor stroke prevention for individual patients.

This project comprises of a clinical trial to establish evidence for medication recommendations for these patients. Several substudies will explore other aspects such as individual predictive risk modelling, cognitive and psychological factors and drug adherence in these patients.

The project will be led by Professor Roland Veltkamp from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London and involves 11 other partner institutions throughout the UK and across Europe including Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria and France. The Consortium members will work collaboratively within the European Commission framework to deliver the desired outcomes over the next 5 years.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 754517.