The role of hippocampal pathology in post-stroke cognitive impairment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The role of hippocampal pathology in post-stroke cognitive impairment.
IRAS ID
177473
Contact name
Akram A. Hosseini
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Dementia is very common after stroke. However, the evidence on vascular and physiological processes that are associated with dementia is scarce. There is knowledge gap in understanding the complex interplay between stroke vascular risk factors and Alzheimer’s disease that is also a common cause of dementia in older age group. Modern brain scan techniques have shown shrinkage of both hippocampi (small areas in the brain with a primary role in memory processing) in Alzheimer’s disease. On the other hand, brain tissue damage after stroke is thought to mostly affect executive function (including speed processing, planning and abstract thinking), or all aspects of cognition except memory. The structural or physiological causes of dementia after stroke is not clear.
We previously studied MRI correlates of cognition in patients with carotid artery narrowing and recent stroke or mini-stroke. We found evidence of damage to both hippocampi on MRI scans in the subgroup with cognitive impairment as compared with normal-cognition group. We however, did not re-assess these patients long-term and there is no available data on these patients to study cognitive performance, in particular memory function, a few months after indexed stroke or mini-stroke. Such longitudinal studies are useful as there might be transient brain tissue changes immediately after stroke, with or without permanent cognitive impairment. We aim to study whether the use of modern MRI scans after stroke would be valuable to predict long-term cognitive and memory outcome.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0209
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion