Stroke has just published a new study co-authored by Terrie Vasilopoulos, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and orthopaedic & sports medicine.
This meta-analysis, titled “Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis of Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation and Functional Outcome After Ischemic Stroke,” investigates the relationship between dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA) and functional outcome after acute ischemic stroke (AIS). The relationship has been unclear in previous research due to small sample sizes and heterogeneity in the data; however, the authors note that this study represents the largest amalgamation of dCA data in AIS to date.
Seven centers, identified through a systematic search of the literature and direct invitation, provided the data of 384 individuals for the study. The research comes from the Identifying New targets For Management And Therapy in Acute Stroke (INFOMATAS) group, an international, multi-center initiative to investigate the relationship between markers of dynamic cerebral autoregulation and outcome after arterial ischemic stroke.
The authors concluded that dCA metrics collected early after AIS are prognostic of functional outcome at three months and that dCA parameters in the early phase of AIS may help predict functional outcomes. These findings will guide further prospective randomized multi-center trials to optimize treatment in AIS based on dCA assessments.
“I was invited to be the biostatistician of this work after recommendation by one of our former faculty members, Nicolai Goettel,” said Vasilopoulos, who also serves as chief of the Division of Education Research and Scholarship. “I’m very excited to have a paper in such a prestigious journal.”
As this study presents new insights into the potential role of dCA in predicting stroke recovery, further research in this area may lead to improved treatment and recovery outcomes for AIS patients.
Congratulations to Dr. Vasilopoulos and her co-authors!