Brain Pulsation in Acute Stroke
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Brain pulsation in acute stroke: Transcranial Doppler ultrasound Brain Tissue Velocimetry for assessment and diagnosis of acute stroke (Brain TV)
IRAS ID
173838
Contact name
Emma Chung
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences & Psychology
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 0 days
Research summary
This project tests the feasibility of using Doppler ultrasound to detect changes in brain tissue pulsatility to monitor brain swelling and changes in cerebral blood flow in patients with suspected ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke. Doppler ultrasound is a safe and portable monitoring techniques which is currently used to monitor blood flow through major arteries in the body, and has recently been applied to the detection of brain tissue pulsatility as part of a previous feasibility study.
This study will extend this research by investigating the potential for using Doppler ultrasound to sensitively detect and measure brain tissue pulsations in patients with haemmorhagic and ischaemic stroke. We test the idea that regional brain tissue pulsation is affected by the presence of (i) ischaemia and (ii) haemorrhage, and that changes in pulsation can be identified using Doppler ultrasound. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that brain tissue pulsation will be inhibited in regions of the brain with impaired blood-flow identified using other imaging techniques (CT and MRI). High resolution 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanning will be used to correlate the pulsation measurements to regions of brain pathology.If our measurements confirm that abnormal brain tissue pulsations are associated with acute stroke, and can distinguish ischaemic from haemorrhagic stroke, further development of Doppler ultrasound techniques could prove useful in the emergency assessment and monitoring of patients. This research might lead to an inexpensive, convenient, and reliable method for evaluating and monitoring brain injury.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1508
Date of REC Opinion
10 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion