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• neuroscience and mental health
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• Medicine

• Clinical Trials
• Neurology
• Vascular Medicine

Background;
The WHO estimates that stroke is the second leading cause of global death, leading cause of acquired disability, and a major contributor to dementia and healthcare costs. Aim:
The Stroke Clinical Trials Network Ireland comprises 8 ?core? Irish hospitals affiliated with all 6 Irish universities, Hospital Groups, and Clinical Research Centres (CRCs). Governance, management, training, communications, and fundraising capacity to improve the efficiency of conducting high- quality clinical trials of stroke prevention, acute treatment, and recovery are being established, thus increasing access of Irish patients to new treatments. The SCTNI conducts investigator led and industry led randomised clinical trials to prevent and treat stroke.
Ongoing stroke trials are being partnered with the Network. We have developed an international Definitive Intervention trial, to investigate low-dose colchicine versus placebo plus usual care to prevent recurrent vascular events after minor non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke, called CONVINCE. A development portfolio of additional trials along pilot/feasibility, application for new funding, and definitive intervention phases is under way.

Ongoing projects
1. An international multi-centre study (BIOVASC) using brain and plaque MRI, and plaque PET, to examine plaque inflammation/instability and stroke risk in Ireland, Canada, France, Spain and Singapore. This is a validation study of findings from the earlier Dublin Carotid Artery Stroke Study, which showed that carotid plaque inflammation measured by FDG-PET was a strong independent predictor of early recurrent stroke
2. International TIA Individual Patient Data Collaboration (7,500 patients from 21 European/North American/Asian centres), which has allowed derivation and repeated validation of the ABCD3-I risk score, and demonstration of the superiority of the ABCD3-I score compared with other risk scores (ABCD2 and ABCD2-I).
3. European lead centre on the TEMPO2 trial, and leading role in other international trials in Ireland (NAVIGATE-ESUS, TICH-2, TWIST, ETNA-AF).
4. Coordinating centre on international CONVINCE trial, which aims to compare low-dose colchicine treatment plus usual care to usual care alone for prevention of vascular events after non-cardioembolic stroke
5. Pilot trial of intensive versus usual blood pressure management after stroke, to prevent recurrent vascular events (Systolic Pressure On Target, SPOT)