08 Oct 20. INVESTIGATE@SVDs study ends

The INVESTIGATE@SVDs study, a collaborative study apart of the larger SVDs@TARGET project, has come to an end.

About the study

INVESTIGATE@SVDs is the first multi-centre study to combine complex imaging protocols which allowed the team to assess:

• Blood brain barrier (BBB) function & dysfunction, in small vessel diseases (SVDs) &
• Cerebrovascular reactivity & pulsatility in small vessel diseases (SVDs)

This provided a holistic brain vascular health assessment & the acquired data will help the team understand the complex relationship between blood-pressure & microvascular defects associated with small vessel diseases (SVDs).

This study is part of the larger SVDs@Target project, which seeks to identify the key mechanisms behind small vessel diseases (SVDs) in stroke & dementia.

This larger SVDs@Target project is a collaborative effort between hospitals in:

• Edinburgh
• Oxford
• Munich
• Maastricht
• Utrecht

Outcomes

The data analysis is at an early stage but the team are already seeing that blood vessels are less able to increase blow flow to the brain when needed in patients with lots of vascular damage, whereas simply having higher blood pressure measures was not enough to explain vascular damage.

The various techniques to image how well blood vessels are working in the brain will allow the team to unpick the processes driving damage in more detail.

We asked Dr Gordon Blair his thoughts regarding the INVESTIGATE@SVD’s study coming to an end:

“The complexity of the brain scans used in INVESTIGATE has previously limited their use to small studies in one place at a time, making them less useful for developing new treatments.

Successfully completing INVESTIGATE using so many measures of brain blood vessel health, across three countries is therefore a huge achievement & a reflection of the hard work & lengthy efforts of a substantial number of researchers.

We’re extremely grateful to all our study participants who gave their time to help better understand what causes blood vessels to become damaged in the lead up to strokes & vascular dementia.

The techniques developed in INVESTIGATE are now being used in clinical trials trying to identify new treatments.”

- Dr Gordon Blair, lead INVESTIGATE research fellow

Early results for the INVESTIGATE@SVD’s study will be presented at the European Stroke Organisation / World Stroke Organisation virtual conference in November.