Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is a type of stroke, which is caused by bleeding in the brain, ultimately leading to brain damage, disability and often death. We currently know very little about the biological changes that occur in the brain after intracerebral haemorrhage. This research on ICH will use zebrafish models so that we can gain a much better understanding of how cells of the brain respond to the bleeding and if there are ways that we can stop the damage caused.
Following a stroke, many treatments are recommended by health professionals, such as medications to prevent another stroke or physiotherapy to help limb weakness. Stroke survivors often have other chronic illnesses and report finding it difficult to follow treatments recommended by their doctors, nurses and therapists. This project aims to develop a way of measuring the workload and potential difficulties encountered by those who have had a stroke when managing their health problems, and aims to develop and test possible solutions.
About 80% strokes are caused by a blocked blood vessel. One third of these patients have a blockage of a large blood vessel in the neck or brain known as large artery occlusion stroke (LAOS). The aim of this programme is to develop and test a new care pathway for paramedics to recognise those patients who are likely to have a large artery blockage, so that this group can be taken directly to the thrombectomy hospital.
In this project, the aim is to demonstrate that failure of drainage of fluid from the grey and white matter of the brain is a mechanism underlying SVD.
This research programme could substantially increase our understanding of how SVD develops, leading to new ways to investigate SVD and test drugs which may help treat it.
A collaboration of experts in stroke and vascular dementia has worked with people affected by both diseases to create a program of work that answers fundamental questions: who will develop memory and thinking problems after stroke, why does this happen, how can we treat it?
As well as reducing independence, walking problems after stroke lead to lower daily activity, increasing risk of further stroke and health problems. A promising method of improving walking after stroke is through ‘auditory rhythmical cueing.’ which involves people walking to the rhythm of a sound beat. This method improves walking after stroke in the hospital, but has not been tested later on at home where recovery could continue.
Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an unusual form of stroke. It is little researched largely because it accounts for less than 1% of all strokes. The study will provide a much better understanding for the reasons underlying CVT, which is an unusual but very important cause of stroke in young (mainly female) adults. It could lead to a better prediction of who will have a CVT, as well as to discovery of specific treatments.
Disease of the chest portion of the largest artery in the body (the aorta), is known as thoracic aortic disease (TAD). The number of people experiencing TAD is increasing. This study is investigating how to make thoracic endovascular aortic stenting (TEVAR), the preferred method of treating TAD, safer by using extra protection devices.
Beyond impaired language function, people with aphasia report a range of psychosocial health problems which negatively affect their wellbeing, including reduced confidence and social isolation. These psychosocial problems are not adequately addressed by healthcare services. This study will pilot a new group-based singing intervention for improving the psychosocial health of people with aphasia.