Cervicocephalic artery dissection research
Introduction
This symposium on cervico-cephalic artery dissections, generously hosted in the beautiful Singer-Polignac foundation, is a unique opportunity to gather international experts with very diverse backgrounds, on cervico-cephalic artery dissections and related conditions, which carry an underestimated population burden. The meeting will feature a wide array of talks covering the epidemiology, genetic and environmental risk factors, and management of cervical artery dissections, including novel findings emerging from the CADISP-plus consortium, a unique worldwide collaboration to promote research on cervical artery dissection. To introduce the topic, the meeting will be opened by a special lecture from Dr. Wouter Schievink, who has pioneered research on cervico-cephalic dissections 20 years ago, leading to major advances in the field and increased awareness of this important disease. A special moment of the meeting will be a series of multidisciplinary talks by neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons, on intracranial artery dissections, which are still poorly understood. More broadly, we are delighted to count among the speakers and moderators international leaders in the field of epidemiology, genetics and worldwide experts of other rare vascular conditions showing strong links with cervical artery dissections, such as fibromuscular dysplasia, inherited connective tissue disorders and migraine.
Programme
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 4TH
Opening by Marie-Germaine Bousser and Stéphanie Debette
Special introductory lecture
Moderator: Didier Leys
Session 1 - CeAD and related vascular conditions
Moderators: Pierre-François Plouin and Bernd Ringelstein
- CeAD in Fibromuscular Dysplasia – experience from the US FMD registry by Jeffrey Olin
- Genetics of Fibromuscular Dysplasia: what can we learn? by Xavier Jeunemaître
Session 2 - CeAD triggers
Moderators: Philippe Lyrer and Christian Stapf (TBC)
- Inflammatory biomarkers and CeAD by Marcel Arnold
- Role of carotid wall stress and anatomy changes during head movements in pathogenesis of CeAD by Ralf Baumgartner
Session 3 - Genetic determinants of cervical artery dissection (CeAD)
Moderators Hugh Markus and Bradford Worrall
- Heritability of CeAD: insight from genome-wide studies by Vincent Thijs
- Agnostic approaches to decipher genetic determinants of CeAD by Stéphanie Debette
- Gene Expression Analysis By Time-of-Event in Cervical Artery Dissection by Andrew Southerland
Moderators: Jenny Majersik and Hugues Chabriat
- Methods for whole exome-sequencing and molecular approaches in familial CeAD by Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve
- Role of copy number variants in CeAD by Caspar Grond-Ginsbach
Panel Discussion: CeAD genetics – what next?
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5TH
Session4 - Inherited connective tissue disorders (CTD) and CeAD
Moderators: Tobias Brandt and Dominique Germain
- CeAD in patients with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and related inherited CTD by Michael Frank
- Common CeAD: a new CTD phenotype? by Alessandro Pezzini
- >Arterial tortuosities and CeAD by Emmanuel Touzé
- Cervical and intracranial dissection in children – triggering events and differential diagnoses by Stéphane Chabrier
Session 5 - CeAD and migraine
Moderators: Christophe Tzourio and Alessandro Pezzini
- Migraine, RCVS, and CeAD: what brings them together? by Jérôme Mawet
- Genetics of Migraine: what can we learn? by Dan Chasman
Session 6 - Intracranial arterial dissections
Moderators: Turgut Tatlisumak and Maarten Uyttenboogaart
- Intracranial artery dissection: a systematic review and expert statement on diagnosis and management by Annette Compter
- IDIS, a prospective study on intracranial arterial dissection (IAD) by Marcel Arnold
Epidemiology of intracranial artery dissections from different perspectives
- In Japan, from a neurologist’s perspective by Kazuo Minematsu
- In France, from a neuroradiologist’s perspective by Marc-Antoine Labeyrie
- In Switzerland, from a neurosurgeon’s perspective by Philippe Bijlenga
Session 7: Treatment of CeAD – trial perspectives
Moderators: José Ferro, Philippe Lyrer and Marie-Germaine Bousser
- Swiss pilot study to prevent new DWI lesions in CeAD by Stefan Engelter
- Individual data meta-analysis by Hakan Sarikaya
Panel discussion: Is there still a place for a therapeutic trial of CeAD?
Concluding remarks and end of meeting
Moderators: Marcel Arnold and Stéphanie Debette
Présentations & vidéos
Opening of the symposium by Marie-Germaine Bousser and Stéphanie Debette
Carotid and Vertebral Artery Dissection in Fibromuscular Dysplasia – experience from the US registry for Fibromuscular Dysplasia by Jeffrey Olin
Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-inflammatory vascular disease that may result in aneurysm, dissection, stenosis and occlusion of the affected blood vessel(s). In the United States Registry for FMD involving 14 centers and more than 1100 patients, 93% of registrants are female, most had multifocal FMD and the mean age was 52 years. Among 929 patients included in this report, 241 (25.9%) demonstrated evidence of a dissection. The most common sites of dissection were the carotid artery in 162 (67.2%), vertebral artery in 49 (20.3%), coronary artery (20.3%) and renal artery in 27 (11.2%) patients. 198 of 241 (82.2%) had only one dissection. 73% of patients with dissection, had FMD in more than one vascular bed as opposed to 46% without dissection. We will discuss presenting signs, symptoms and treatment of patients with dissection compared to those without. In the US Registry, 1 of every 4 patients experienced a dissection of a coronary or peripheral artery and aneurysms occurred in 1 of every 5 patients. The most common sites for aneurysm were renal (34.1%), carotid (29.9%), cerebral (15.4%) and aorta (10.7%). Patients with dissection have a more virulent course with higher morbidity and adverse outcomes but the mortality is no different from those without a dissection. Current studies on the genetics of FMD are underway to determine why some patients with FMD have dissections or aneurysms and others do not.
Genetics of Fibromuscular Dysplasia: what can we learn? by Xavier Jeunemaitre
Arterial fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-atherosclerotic non-inflammatory vascular disease which prevalence is estimated to be 4/1000 (Plouin, Orphanet J 2007). Primary mechanisms of FMD are unknown, but genetic factors have been clearly suggested by familial cases and retrospective analyses. Our research team together with the Hypertension Unit at HEGP have contributed to the assessment of familial forms (Pannier-Moreau, J Hypertens 1997), to its radiological classification (Savard et al. Circulation 2012), to the identification of systemic arterial anomalies their inheritance (Perdu et al J Hum Hypertens. 2007). Elucidating the causal molecular mechanisms should lead to new pathophysiological insights and to possible prevention or new therapeutic choices.
Our strategies to identify the first genetic determinants and molecular mechanisms for FMD will be presented as well as our first preliminary results : i) whole exome sequencing (WES) in familial and/or severe FMD cases to identify rare susceptibility variants; ii) genome wide association studies (GWAS) in a first set of 700 patients and 1500 controls to identify common and low frequency variants and attempts for replication; iii) functional studies of significant candidates, especially cell migration and adhesion properties of primary cell culture of fibroblasts; iv) search for somatic mutations and array-based methylome analysis of DNA from FMD arteries.
Inflammatory biomarkers and CeAD by Marcel Arnold
CAD is often preceded by and infection. However, the pathogenic links between inflammation and CAD have remained widely unknown.
In the ongoing project “Inflammatory Biochemical and Coagulation Markers in CAD (BIO-CAD) we aim to assess inflammatory biomarkers in plasma samples from patients with CAD, age- and sex-matched patients with TIA or stroke of other origin than CAD as one control group, and, in healthy individuals as a second control group.
In addition we investigate the relationship of focal and generalized high-resolution contrast-enhanced MRI signs of vessel wall inflammation with clinical and laboratory inflammatory signs.
An interim analysis suggests that inflammation and degradation of extracellular matrix by proteinases seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of (CAD).
Gene Expression Analysis By Time-of-Event in Cervical Artery Dissection by Andrew Southerland
Background: The pathogenesis of incident cervical artery dissection (CeAD) remains poorly understood. An interaction with time is supported by predictable age of occurrence, high early recurrence/low late recurrence, and predisposition to simultaneous dissections. We hypothesize that incident risk for CeAD peaks in susceptible individuals due to a cerebrocervical arteriopathy at time-of-event.
Methods: Whole genome RNA expression analysis of CeAD is being performed at both time-of-event and longitudinal follow-up, consecutively enrolling CeAD cases presenting with and without stroke. Quantitative microarray analysis of whole blood leukocyte RNA in CeAD cases will be compared to age and sex-matched (1) non-CeAD stroke cases and healthy controls, and (2) serial within case profiles at 3 and 6 months incorporating analysis of variance and hierarchical clustering.
Results: From May 2013 to October 2014, 20 consecutive CeAD cases have been enrolled for RNA storage: mean age 43 (25-58), 55% men, 60% vert, 60% stroke, 25% non-European ancestry.
Comment: Gene expression analysis has never been used to study cervical artery dissection, and presents a novel method to investigate interactions between gene, environment, and time in the causal pathway of CeAD.
Agnostic approaches to decipher genetic determinants of CeAD by Stéphanie Debette
Methods for whole exome-sequencing and molecular approaches in familial CeAD by Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve
20 years of cervicocephalic dissection, what have we learnt? by Wouter Schievink
The speaker will discuss many facets of cervical artery dissections, especially as they relate to gains in knowledge over the last 28 years. The following will be included: epidemiology; pathology; pathophysiology; genetic and environmental risk factors; clinical manifestations; diagnosis; medical and invasive treatments; outcome; and risk of a recurrence
Heritability of CeAD: insight from genome-wide studies by Vincent Thijs
Dissection of cervical arteries is a complex disease with a genetic background. GWAS is traditionally used to uncover associations of disease with common genetic variants. GWAS can also be used to identify the heritability of complex disorders. We will discuss this approach based on GWAS data from the CADISP study. We will compare the heritability of dissection with that of other neurovascular disorders.
Role of copy number variants in CeAD by Caspar Grond-Ginsbach
Copy number Variation (CNV - deletions or duplications) is a common type of structural genetic variation. It can be studied in high density SNP microarrays. CNV was detected in 834 patients with cervical artery dissection (CeAD), in 565 patients with ischemic stroke due to other causes than CeAD (both from CADISP) and in 1260 German population controls (from PopGen). Findings were prioritized on frequency (<0.1%) and on genetic content (exonic CNV).
CNV affecting genes associated with aortic aneurysms and genes associated with cardiovascular system development were more frequent in CeAD patients than in non-CeAD patients or population controls. CNV findings were compared with whole-exome sequencing (WES) findings from seven families with familial CeAD and four control families.
The CNV and WES data support genetic heterogeneity for CeAD and suggests various candidate genes including COL3A1 and FBN1.
Intracranial artery dissection: a systematic review and expert statement on diagnosis and management by Annette Compter
Spontaneous intracranial arterial dissection (IAD) is an uncommon, probably underdiagnosed cause of stroke, defined by the occurrence of a haematoma in the wall of an intracranial artery. Patients may present with headache, ischaemic stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) or symptoms associated with mass effect, mostly on the brainstem. While IAD is less common than cervical artery dissection in adults of European origin, it is described as more common in children and Asian populations. Risk factors and mechanisms are poorly understood. Diagnosis is challenging, as characteristic imaging features may be difficult to detect given the small size of intracranial arteries. Therefore, multimodal follow-up imaging is often required to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment of IAD is empirical in the absence of randomised trials. Most patients with SAH undergo surgical or endovascular therapy to prevent rebleeding, whereas IAD patients with cerebral ischaemia are treated with antithrombotics. Outcome appears more ominous in patients with SAH.
Migraine, RCVS, and CeAD: what brings them together? by Jérôme Mawet
Genetics of migraine in the adult population – what can we learn? by Dan Chasman
Although genetic analysis of common migraine has historically been challenging, perhaps in part due to the heterogeneity of migraine presentation, genome-wide association studies with large sample sizes have recently yielded substantial progress. Beginning in 2011 with identification of three loci meeting genome-wide significance for association with migraine and increasing to 12 loci by 2013, the International Headache Genetics Consortium (IHGC) has now discovered approximately 40 loci in a very large genome-wide meta-analysis including >50,000 cases of migraine. The identified loci broadly support cell-signaling, ion channels, and neurovascular functions in the pathology of migraine. Most associations were found in analysis combining cases of migraine with aura (MA) and without aura (MO), but some loci were specific for MO while none was specific for MA. A detailed analysis of the 12 migraine loci from 2013 among 3003 active migraineurs the Women’s Genome Health Study demonstrated selective associations not only for MA v. MO status but also for additional diagnostic criteria related to features of the migraine attack such as phonophobia, photophobia, nausea, unilateral pain, etc. Taken together, the findings identify key genes in migraine pathophysiology overall and begin to suggest the pathophysiologic basis for heterogeneity of migraine presentation.
CeAD in patients with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and related inherited CTD by Michael Frank
Common CeAD: a new CTD phenotype? by Alessandro Pezzini
Over the last decades, spontaneous dissection of the cervical arteries (CeAD) has been observed in patients affected by hereditary disorders of connective tissue (HCTD), such as Marfan syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, and, especially, Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) type IV. This has led to the hypothesis of a primary aberration of connective tissue in the pathogenesis of the disease. Structural deviations in collagen and elastic fibers may lead to functional impairment, predisposing to dissection of the arterial wall. However, the observation that HCTD are extremely rare in CeAD patients, cast doubts on this assumption. More recently, a number of data have been reported, which reinforced the “connective hypothesis” in the pathogenesis of CeAD. The aberrations of collagen fibrils and elastic fibers within the reticular dermis of CeAD patients, the abnormalities of arterial hemodynamic properties resembling those found in several HCTD, and, more recently, the high prevalence of clinically detectable connective tissue signs in patients with sCeAD, suggest that the disorder implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease is probably not limited to the vascular bed. Although the exact nature of this predisposing condition remains to be determined, unrecognized or unknown forms of connective tissue disorders are likely play a major role.
IDIS, a prospective study on intracranial arterial dissection (IAD) by Marcel Arnold
Barbara Goeggel Simonetti is a paediatric neurologist with a special interest in neurovascular diseases. She has been a research fellow in the neurovascular research group lead by Profes M. Arnold and H.P. Mattle at the University Hospital of Bern since 2012 and prior to that was a consultant paediatric neurologist at the University Children’s Hospital Bern. Apart from her ongoing research activities, she has been working as a consultant paediatric neurologist at the Cantonal Hospital of Bellinzona in Southern Switzerland since autumn 2014.
Dr Goeggel Simonetti graduated from Medical School at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in 2001. During her postgraduate education, she completed residencies in Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Neurology (Prof Ch.W. Hess, University Hospital Bern) and Paediatric Neurology (Profes E. Boltshauser and B. Schmitt, University Children’s Hospital Zurich; Prof M. Steinlin, University Children’s Ho spital Bern; Dr P. Sharples, Profes F. O’Callaghan and A. Lux).
Arterial tortuosities and CeAD by Emmanuel Touzé
Cervical and intracranial dissection in children – triggering events and differential diagnoses by Stéphane Chabrier
Dissection of craniocervical arteries is responsible for 10% of childhood stroke, with a substantial male predominance. It involves the intracranial vasculature in about half of the cases and is equally distributed between the anterior and posterior circulation. All types of clinical and imaging presentations reported in adults are described in children as well.
Anticoagulation is frequently proposed at the acute stage of cervical dissection, notably those implying the vertebral artery, as recurrence of stroke is frequent in this later case. Ischemic intracranial dissections tend to be treated with aspirin. Due to the lack of paediatric studies, this attitude is based on observational data, by analogy with current existing recommendations for adults, and expert opinion. In the long term, recurrence rate is on the contrary low. As in most cases, no obvious mechanical trigger event is identified or seems minimal, some dissections might be symptomatic of an underlying time-limited (probably post-infectious) focal arteriopathy.
Epidemiology of intracranial arterial dissections from different perspectives: In Japan, from a neurologist’s perspective by Kazuo Minematsu
While spontaneous intracranial artery dissection (IAD) is less common than cervical artery dissection (CeAD) in Western peoples, it is more common in Japan. In a retrospective multicenter study, we collected and analyzed the clinical data of 454 patients with spontaneous IAD or CeAD, whose diagnosis was made based on findings with conventional angiography (84%), followed by magnetic resonance angiography (63%) and so on. Patient’s age was 54 years in median (13 to 88). The dissection was identified most often in intracranial arteries (92%); being 63% in the vertebral artery (VA) and 8% in anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Only 11 patients (2.4%) had CeAD. Stroke occurred in 389 patients (86%); 239 ischemic, 126 hemorrhagic, and 24 both. In our study, patients with ischemic stroke were treated with antithrombotics. Most patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) underwent surgical or endovascular therapy. Treatment of IAD is, however, empirical in the absence of randomized trials.
Epidemiology of intracranial artery dissections from different perspectives in France, from a neuroradiologist’s perspective by Marc-Antoine Labeyrie
While spontaneous intracranial artery dissection (IAD) is less common than cervical artery dissection (CeAD) in Western peoples, it is more common in Japan. In a retrospective multicenter study, we collected and analyzed the clinical data of 454 patients with spontaneous IAD or CeAD, whose diagnosis was made based on findings with conventional angiography (84%), followed by magnetic resonance angiography (63%) and so on. Patient’s age was 54 years in median (13 to 88). The dissection was identified most often in intracranial arteries (92%); being 63% in the vertebral artery (VA) and 8% in anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Only 11 patients (2.4%) had CeAD. Stroke occurred in 389 patients (86%); 239 ischemic, 126 hemorrhagic, and 24 both. In our study, patients with ischemic stroke were treated with antithrombotics. Most patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) underwent surgical or endovascular therapy. Treatment of IAD is, however, empirical in the absence of randomized trials.
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Epidemiology of intracranial artery dissections from different perspectives in Switzerland, from a neurosurgeon’s perspective by Philippe Bijlenga
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Swiss pilot study to prevent new DWI lesions in CeAD by Stefan Engelter
There is equipoise, whether patients with Cervical artery dissection should be treated with antiplatelets or with anticoagulants. Four systematic meta-analyses of observational, non-randomized studies comparing both treatment approaches showed contradictory results, indicating the importance of data based on randomized-controlled trials. However, such trials are a huge venture. Based on the aforementioned observational studies, a large sample size would be needed to gather meaningful differences in clinical endpoints. Surrogate markers – in particular MRI-findings - may be useful to overcome these difficulties. TREAT-CAD - Biomarkers and Antithrombotic Treatment in Cervical Artery Dissection – is a randomized controlled, open labeled study, with blinded outcome assessment. TREAT-CAD aims at demonstrating non-inferiority of aspirin as compared to vitamin K antagonists in cervical artery dissection (CAD) patients with regard to a composite outcome of clinical or imaging endpoints of brain ischemia, bleeds, or death. The study has been designed as a pilot trial and is currently restricted to Switzerland for administrative reasons. TREAT-CAD aims at recruiting 167 patients. The study has started in September 2013 in Basel. In September 2014, the second center (Bern) started recruitment. Participation of the stroke centers in Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich is currently in the review process. On September 24th, 15 patients have been included.
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Individual data meta-analysis by Hakan Sarikaya
Dissections of cervical arteries are among the most frequent causes of ischaemic stroke in young adults. Most physicians prescribe anticoagulants for stroke prevention in patients with acute cervical artery dissection, although no randomised trial has compared the safety and efficacy of anticoagulants with antiplatelets or placebo. Three meta-analyses have been published so far and showed no beneficial effect for anticoagulation or antiplatelets. We recently performed an update of the meta-analysis by including 37 studies and 1991 patients and used a different statistical approach (Bayesian analysis) to account for imbalances in group size and frequent zero events. This analysis found evidence to suggest a clinically relevant advantage of antiplatelets over anticoagulants on the primary outcome (composite of ischaemic stroke, intracranial haemorrhage or death). The benefit of antiplatelets was considerably less pronounced in studies of higher methodological quality, however. Main limitation was low reporting quality of patients’ individual data (e.g. lack of stroke predictors such as age, stroke severity, risk factors, vessel stenosis etc.). Given the assumption, that results from a properly powered randomized trial will not exist within next time, we call for a large international meta-analysis of individual patient data to fill the evidence gap until randomised evidence becomes available.
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Concluding remarks by Stéphanie Debette
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Biographies
Marie-Germaine Bousser
Marie-Germaine BOUSSER is presently consultant in the Lariboisière hospital Neurology department in Paris and Emeritus professor at Université Paris-Diderot. Her research and clinical activities have been mostly devoted to cerebrovascular diseases and headache.
In particular , she has
- shown the efficacy of aspirin in stroke secondary prevention
- identified a new variety of autosomal dominant small artery disease of the brain for which she has coined the acronym CADASIL
- contributed to a better understanding and treatment of other causes of stroke of which she is a world expert such as cerebral venous thrombosis, cervical artery dissections, reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome
- contributed to a better understanding and treatment of migraine
She has published over 500 articles in peer review journals and several books mostly on migraine, stroke and aspirin.
Stéphanie Debette
Stephanie Debette, MD, PhD, is a neurologist and epidemiologist. Dr. Debette has worked as a stroke neurologist and epidemiologist in Lille University Hospital and Lariboisière Hospital / Inserm U1161 in Paris. She recently joined Bordeaux University Hospital and Inserm Center U897 as professor of epidemiology / neurology and holds an adjunct associate professor position at Boston University School of Medicine. Her main research area of interest is the epidemiology and genetic epidemiology of cerebrovascular disease and brain aging, in collaboration with the Cohorts of Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium and the International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC). Since 2004 she has been coordinating the international Cervical Artery Dissection and Ischemic Stroke Patients (CADISP) consortium. In collaboration with Inserm U744 (Pasteur Institute Lille) and CADISP investigators she has co-lead the first genome-wide association study on cervical artery dissection.
Wouter Schievink
Wouter I. Schievink, MD joined Cedars-Sinai in 1998, where he directs the Microvascular Neurosurgery Program in the Department of Neurosurgery.
Dr. Schievink specializes in neurovascular procedures, including the surgical treatment of an-eurysms, cavernous angiomas, AVMs, as well as Moya-Moya disease, extracranial to intracra-nial bypass surgery and microvascular decompression. He is a world-renowned expert in cervi-cal artery dissections, familial aneurysms, and spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Dr. Schievink directs the evaluation and treatment of patients with cerebrospinal fluid leaks and spontaneous intracranial hypotension.
Dr. Schievink's research has focused on genetic and clinical aspects of intracranial aneurysms, cervicocephalic arterial dissections and spontaneous intracranial hypotension. He has pub-lished numerous articles on these and other subjects in peer reviewed publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and the Lancet.
Dr. Schievink was born and raised in Amsterdam. He earned his medical degree from the University of Amsterdam and completed his internship and residency in neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He also completed a neurovascular and skull base sur-gery fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
Didier Leys
Didier Leys is Professor of Neurology and Head of the Neurological Department at the University “Lille North of France”. He is past president of the European Stroke Organisation and of the French Stroke Society, and current President of the French Society of Neurology and General Secretary of the European Academy of Neurology.
His main topics of interest are acute stroke, pre- and post-stroke dementia, and factors predisposing to cervical artery dissections.
Pierre-François Plouin
Past-President of the French Society of Hypertension, Pierre-Francois Plouin is Head of the Hypertension unit at Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou (HEGP) in Paris and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Rene Descartes Medical School, Paris 5, France. He received his MD from Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris, France. He currently leads COMETE (COrtico and MEdullary adrenal Tumors), a French network on adrenal tumors; a French network on renal and carotid artery fibromuscular dysplasia; the ESH Hypertension Excellence Center of HEGP; and the French network of Hypertension Excellence centres. He is a co-founder of the European Network on Adrenal Tumors (ENS@T).
Areas of interest and expertise include physiology of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, pathophysiology of adrenocortical secreting tumors, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas, therapeutics of hypertension and vascular diseases, specifically renovascular disease and fibromuscular dysplasia.
Professor Plouin is a member of several international scientific societies, such as the European and International Societies of Hypertension, the French and European Societies of Endocrinology, and the Pheochromocytoma Research Support Organization.
During his career, Professor Plouin has lectured widely on his areas of expertise and has published more than 380 original research papers, reviews and editorials in leading international journals, and more than 100 book chapters, predominantly in adrenal and renovascular hypertension.
E. Bernd Ringelstein
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h. c. E. Bernd Ringelstein studied medicine at the University of Mainz, Germany. He passed residencies in Neuropathology, Psychiatry, Neurology and Neuroradiology at the University Hospitals in Mainz and Aachen. He was boarded Neurologist and Psychiatrist in 1983 in Düsseldorf. In the eighties, he became Vice-Chairman and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital, in Aachen.
In 1987-1989 he passed fellowships and sabbaticals in Stroke Neurology and Hematology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, in Neurosonology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC and in Epileptology at the University Hospital of Bonn.
By 1992, he was appointed Chairman and Head of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Münster, where he also became Head of the Department of Neurovascular Research at the Leibniz-Institut for Research on Arteriosclerosis by 2002.
He has been President of the European Society of Neurosonology and Cerebral Hemodynamics 2001 – 2005, President of the German Stroke Society 2004 – 2005 and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Stroke Foundation (SDSH), Gütersloh 2002-2013. His scientific and clinical focus is on stroke and cerebrovascular research. He has been, and still is, Principal Investigator and member of Steering Committees of several national and multinational trials. He is, or has been Editorial Board Member of “Stroke”, “Cerebrovascular Diseases”, “Journal of Neuroimaging”, “Stroke Review” and “Neuroradiology”.
Prof. Ringelstein has been awarded the Hugo Spatz Price of the German Neurological Society (1992), was nominated twice Best Lecturer of the Medical Faculty in Münster (“Teacher of the Year”), has been nominated “Leading Scientist” in Germany 2003 by Science Impact Index, has been nominated Honorary Member of the Austrian Stroke Society (2003) and has been nominated “Doctor honoris causa” (honorary doctorate) by the University of Debrecen, Hungary, for transnational research on cerebro-vascular disorders (2006). He is Fellow of the American Heart Association (by 2001) and of the European Stroke Council (by 2005). During the last years, he was very active in organizing and qualifying the German Stroke Unit system all over the country (honoured by the German Neurological Society with the Erb Becher in 2008). He is a wellknow specialist in stroke prevention as well.
Since April 2013 he is Emeritus Professor of the Medical Faculty of the University in Münster. Since then he is active in his private practice as a neurologist and psychiatrist. He is still active as a member of the Executive Committee of the German Stroke Society and is engaged in stroke unit certification on both national and international levels.
He is married with a psychotherapist and has two sons.
Jeffrey Olin
Dr. Olin is a Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of Vascular Medicine and the Vascular Diagnostic Laboratory in the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Olin is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Vascular Medicine. Dr. Olin is a past president of the Society for Vascular Medicine and recently has been awarded the highest honor from that society, Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine. Dr Olin received the inaugural Jess R Young, M.D. teaching award from the Society for Vascular Medicine and in 2013 he received the Simon Dack, M.D. teaching award from the fellows at the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health of the Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Olin has authored more than 220 scientific papers in the peer review literature, 3 books and more than 70 book chapters. He has served on many writing committees of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. He chaired the writing committee on Performance Measures in Peripheral Arterial Disease, and the Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association entitled Fibromuscular Dysplasia: State of the Science and Critical Unanswered Questions. He has published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Journal of Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine to name a few. He is a past Associate Editor of the journal Vascular Medicine, current Associate Editor for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Editor of the textbook Peripheral Vascular Diseases.
Xavier Jeunemaître
Xavier Jeunemaitre is Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris Descartes University. He is the head of the Department of Genetics at the Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, and also the Director of the research team “Genetics and rare arterial diseases” at the Paris Cardiovascular Research Centre INSERM U970 in Paris. He received his MD and PhD degree from University P&M Curie. Past-President of the French Hypertension Society and of the European Council for Cardiovascular Research, his past main research aeras concern the identification of genetic variants causing rare or frequent forms of arterial hypertension and the corresponding mechanisms through in vitro and in vivo studies.
More recently, Dr Jeunemaitre’s laboratory has been working on the genetics of other human cardiovascular diseases such as mitral valve prolapse, arterial fibromuscular dysplasia, vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and thoracic aortic aneurism/dissection. Concerning fibromuscular dysplasia, the long-term collaboration with Prof Plouin’s Hypertension Department has allowed the constitution of a unique cohort of patients and families and corresponding pathophysiological and genetic studies.
The laboratory receives funds from INSERM, the National Research Agency ANR, the Foundation for Research in Hypertension, the Foundation Leducq and the Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale, the University Paris Descartes and the French Ministry of Heath. The laboratory has been and is currently participating to several European Networks and two transatlantic Leducq networks.
Philippe Lyrer
Christian Stapf
Dr. Christian Stapf is a University Professor of Neurology at the University Diderot - Sorbonne Paris Cité (France) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City (USA). He received his neurology training at Klinikum Benjamin Franklin in Berlin (Germany) including a stroke fellowship at The Neurological Institute of Columbia University in New York. He serves as Attending Neurologist at APHP - Hôpital Lariboisière in Paris (France) since 2003.
Dr. Stapf's main research interest is the neurology of brain vascular malformations and other conditions predisposing to intracranial hemorrhage and stroke. Dr. Stapf has conducted and participated in many clinical trials of acute and preventive stroke therapy. He has received a Young Investigator Award of the European Stroke Conference (2000) and the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award in Stroke of the American Heart Association (2001). He is a co-investigator of the Bern - Paris - Zürich database of arterial dissections since 2005.
Marcel Arnold
Prof. Dr. Marcel Arnold is the Co-Chairman of the Stroke Center of the University Hospital Berne and a University Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Berne, Switzerland. He is the president of the Swiss Stroke Commission and the Vice-President of the Swiss Federation of Clinical Neurosocieties (SFCNS), the Co-Chairman of the International Study Group on Biomarkers in Cerebrovascular Diseases (IBCD) and a member of the European Stroke Organisation Trials Network Committee and Educational Committee.
His main research area of interest is the pathogenesis, imaging, treatment and prognosis of ischemic stroke. A special interest is dedicated to cervicocerebral artery dissections, cerebral venous thrombosis and to biomarkes in cerebrovascular diseases. Prof. Arnold has conducted and participated in many multicenter trials of acute ischemic stroke and has published more than 250 scientific papers. His research is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Heart Foundation and several other institutions.
Ralf Baumgartner
Resident in University Hospitals, Cantonal hospitals and Psychiatric Clinic 1983-1990, and Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany; MD thesis 1989 (Prof. Dr. J. Siegfried, Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Zürich, CH); Specialist for Neurology FMH 1991.
Chief resident 1992-1996 in the Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Bern 1992-1996 and Zurich 1997-1998; research fellow, Tufts University School of Medicine, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA 1997;
Habilitation in Neurology, University of Bern 1997 and Zurich 1998.
Chief of Department of Neuroangiology, Stroke Unit and Neuro-Intermediate Care Unit of Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Zürich, 1998.-2010; Professor of Neurology 2001.
Director of Stroke Center (certified 8-8-2014) and neurologist in the NeuroCenter, Swiss Neuro Institute, Clinic Hirslanden Zurich, Switzerland since 2010.
Hugh Markus
Bradford Worrall
Bradford B Worrall is a Professor of Neurology and Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia and director of the Vascualr Neurology Fellowship there. He has been active in numerous stoke genetics trials over the past decade including the Ischaemic Stroke Genetics Study (ISGS), the Siblings with Ischaemic Stroke Study (SWISS), the Genetics of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Anticoagulation (GOCHA) study and the Familial Intracranial Aneurysm (FIA) study. He co-PI'd a U-01 funded GWAS of treatement response grant with Michele Sale using the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention (VISP) trial. The overall project is known as the Genome-wide Association Research Network into Effects of Treatment (GARNET) and includes a wide range of randomised clinical trials in many disease types. He is a founding member of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium and runs a translational stroke genetics laboratory at the University of Virginia.
Vincent Thijs
Vincent Thijs is an academic stroke neurologist currently working at the Department of Neurology in the University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium, where he heads the Stroke Unit. He did his MD at the University of Leuven, Belgium and a Cerebrovascular Disease Research Fellowship at the Stanford Stroke Center, California (USA). His PhD in 2004 was entitled Assessment of human cerebral ischemia using magnetic resonance imaging techniques. He is a staff scientist at the Vesalius Research Center, VIB and Professor at the University of Leuven. His main research topics include imaging of acute stroke, stroke genetics and the pathophysiological basis of stroke recovery. He is on the steering committee of several stroke clinical trials, among which the SCAST, AXIS study and the WAKE-UP stroke trial.
Andrew Southerland
Andrew Mebane Southerland is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Vascular Neurology, Departments of Neurology and Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. Dr. Southerland completed Neurology Residency training at the University of Virginia where he served as Chief Resident. During his Vascular Neurology fellowship, Dr. Southerland completed a Master of Science in Clinical Research in the UVA Department of Public Health Sciences. His research interests focus on the genetics of cervical artery dissection and other non-atherosclerotic vasculopathies, stroke and related health disparities in rural and underserved communities, novel telestroke applications, and acute stroke clinical trials. He is the recipient of an early career investigator award through the AHA/ASA National Clinical Research Program for his work focusing on gene expression analysis in cervical artery dissection by time-of-event. In addition to his research portfolio, Dr. Southerland serves as the Residency Program Director in the UVA Department of Neurology.
Jennifer Majersik
Dr. Jennifer Majersik is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Utah. After receiving her B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College, she served in the USAF as a Scientific Analyst at the National Air Intelligence Center, Wright-Patterson AF Base. She received her MD at the University of Vermont and completed neurology residency at the University of Utah. She completed a vascular neurology fellowship at University of Michigan while earning a master's degree in clinical research design and biostatistics. In 2008, Dr. Majersik returned to the University of Utah to establish her vascular neurology practice. She is the Director of the Stroke Center and Telestroke Services and Chief of the Division of Vascular Neurology. Dr. Majersik’s research interests are in stroke systems of care and the genetic epidemiology of stroke for which she collaborates with International Stroke Genetics Consortium investigators. She is also the NIH StrokeNet Utah Regional Coordinating Center Principle Investigator.
Caspar Grond-Ginsbach
Caspar Grond-Ginsbach (1953) is a geneticist at the Neurology Department of the Heidelberg University. He was trained in developmental biology (Leiden/Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and in molecular and clinical genetics (at the European Molecular Biology Laboratories and the Institute of Human Genetics of the Heidelberg University, Germany). His main area of interest is the pathology of vascular diseases.
Tobias Brandt
Dr. Tobias Brandt, MD, PhD is medical director of the Kliniken Schmieder for Neurorehabilitation, affiliated teaching hospital of the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He received his neurology training at the Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg (Prof. W. Hacke) including a stroke research fellowship at Tufts University Boston, U.S.A. (Dr. LR Caplan, Dr. MS Pessin). He was then attending in charge of the Neurological Emergency Unit and Neurosonology lab at the department of Neurology of the Univ. of Heidelberg.
His main research interests are stroke with particular interest for the pathogenesis of cervical artery dissection, and treatment of neglect. He is member of CADISP since foundation.
Dominique Germain
Dominique P. Germain, MD PhD is Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Versailles – St Quentin en Yvelines (UVSQ), a researcher in Human Genetics in the UFR des Sciences de la Santé (Montigny) and the Head of the Division of Medical Genetics at the Raymond Poincaré Hospital (AP-HP) and the Referral Center for Fabry disease in Garches, France.
Professor Germain graduated in medicine, from the University of Nancy I, France, and went on to specialize in human genetics at the University of Paris V (René Descartes), France. In 1995, he received a doctorate in medicine (MD) from the University of Nancy for his work on the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and, in 1999, he completed a doctorate in human genetics (PhD) at the University of Paris VII (Denis Diderot), France. He obtained his Habilitation in 2005 from the University of Paris V (René Descartes).
Professor Germain was a lecturer in medical genetics at the University of Paris from 1996 to 2001 and has been appointed Professor at the University of Versailles - St Quentin (UVSQ), France, in 2007. From 1998 to 2000, he was a consultant in the Department of Genetics, at Broussais Hospital, Paris. In 2000, he moved to the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, Paris, where he was Head of the Clinical Genetics Unit. In 2006, he became Director of the Referral Center for Fabry Disease and Hereditary Diseases of Connective Tissue. Professor Germain’s research interests include the clinical and biochemical genetics of Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, Pompe disease and hereditary diseases of the connective tissue, such as Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, pseudoxanthoma elasticum, and mucopolysaccharidoses. Throughout his career, Professor Germain has contributed extensively on the topics of Fabry disease and hereditary diseases of the connective tissue with the development of novel therapies such as enzyme replacement therapy and enzyme enhancement therapy (chaperons) for Fabry disease. He has written several book chapters and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers.
Michael Frank
Michael Frank is currently coordinating the clinical activity of the French national referral centre for rare vascular diseases at the European Georges Pompidou in Paris, France, which he has joined in 2009. His practice is focussed on diagnosis of vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) and other rare inherited vascular diseases, as well as acute care and follow-up of a large cohort of patients with vEDS.
His research activity is focussed on the pathophysiology of rare vascular diseases. Dr Frank has been co-investigator of several studies on fibromuscular dysplasia and vEDS, and is the principal investigator of the MEDIC study (biomarkers in vEDS).
Alessandro Pezzini
Alessandro Pezzini is stroke neurologist at the University of Brescia, Italy. He earned the position of Assistant Professor from the same University in 2007 and has recently been certified in the role of Associate Professor of Neurology. He supervised 2 PhD, 1 master, and 9 MD theses. He also carried out research on stroke medicine at the Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Germany and the Department of Neurology, University of Munich, Germany. He authored and co-authored more than 130 published papers, 1 monograph and 10 book-chapters. He is member of the Editorial Board of 5 international journals, has served as peer reviewer to over 30 journals over 200 times and to the Italian Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR). He is also member of the Italian Stroke Organization Guidelines Committee (ISO-SPREAD) and fellow of ESO. Dr. Pezzini is actively involved in international research projects on cervical artery dissections, heart and brain and acute stroke treatment. He has made primary interest stroke at young age and is principal investigator of the Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults (IPSYS), and of the Multicenter Study on Cerebral Hemorrhage in Italy (MUCH-Italy).
Emmanuel Touzé
Stéphane Chabrier
Stéphane Chabrier has an interest in paediatric stroke since his internship in Paris (1991-98) largely achieved at Bicêtre hospital with Profs Lasjaunias, Landrieu, Tardieu and Sébire, all historical leaders of care and research on this disorder in France.
He graduated (MD-MSc) from the University of Paris 5 in 1998. His thesis focused upon “Arterial ischemic stroke: clinical findings, aetiology and outcome in a population of 59 children." Since joining the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne as a paediatric neurologist, he has published numerous original papers, reviews and recommendations for clinical practice on this topic.
He is also a member of the Société Française de Neurologie Pédiatrique, and has been in charge of a specific child neurovascular commission for animated the past 10 years. Since 2013, Stéphane Chabrier is responsible of the French Centre for Paediatric Stroke.
Christophe Tzourio
Jérôme Mawet
Dr. Jerome Mawet is a neurologist currently working at the Emergency Headache Center in Lariboisiere, Paris, France. He received his medical and neurology training in Liege, Belgium, then moved to Lariboisiere in 2008 as clinical fellow in stroke. He spent one year in 2013-2014 in Harvard, Boston as research fellow where he worked on interactions between migraine and stroke. His main topics of interest are stroke and headache, particularly headache related to vascular disorders.
Dan Chasman
An Associate Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, Daniel Chasman, PhD is interested in genome-wide genetic analysis of cardiovascular traits and other related phenotypes. In particular, his research emphasizes genome-wide genetic analysis of plasma lipid components, inflammatory biomarkers, pharmacogenetic response to statin therapy, and migraine. This research area is complemented by a secondary interest in integrating genome-wide functional annotations to support purely statistical evidence for genetic association and to aid in the interpretation of genetic signals. Previously, he was Director of Computational Biology and Statistical Genetics at Variagenics, a biotechnology company in Cambridge Massachusetts where he was engaged in exploring the potential for genetic testing for optimizing therapeutic strategies.
Turgut Tatlisumak
Turgut Tatlisumak is the vice chairman and director of comprehensive stroke center at the Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Central Hospital. He is the founding chairman of Finnish National telestroke Network. He did his neurology training at the same institution and had been a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts in mid-90’s. He holds degrees in teaching and health care administration. His research interest is stroke.
Maarten Uyttenboogaart
Annette Compter
Annette Compter is a neurology resident of the University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands. She is currently working on her PhD on vertebrobasilar ischaemia at the University Medical Centre Utrecht (supervisors: prof. L. Jaap Kappelle, prof. Ale Algra, and Dr H. Bart van der Worp) and has co-ordinated the multicentre, randomised Vertebral Artery Stenting Trial (VAST), of which the results will be presented shortly.
Annette Compter has recently worked with Dr Stéphanie Debette in the Department of Neurology of the Lariboisière Hospital in Paris, France. During this period she has worked on a systematic review and expert statement on the diagnosis and treatment of intracranial arterial dissections and on a cohort study of multiple and recurrent cervical arterial dissections on behalf of the CADISP (Cervical Artery Dissection and Ischemic Stroke Patients) - plus group. Her main areas of interest are epidemiology and treatment of vertebrobasilar ischaemia, cervical and intracranial arterial dissections, and neuro-oncology.
Barbara Goeggel-Simonetti
Barbara Goeggel Simonetti is a paediatric neurologist with a special interest in neurovascular diseases. She has been a research fellow in the neurovascular research group lead by Profes M. Arnold and H.P. Mattle at the University Hospital of Bern since 2012 and prior to that was a consultant paediatric neurologist at the University Children’s Hospital Bern. Apart from her ongoing research activities, she has been working as a consultant paediatric neurologist at the Cantonal Hospital of Bellinzona in Southern Switzerland since autumn 2014.
Dr Goeggel Simonetti graduated from Medical School at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in 2001. During her postgraduate education, she completed residencies in Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Neurology (Prof Ch.W. Hess, University Hospital Bern) and Paediatric Neurology (Profes E. Boltshauser and B. Schmitt, University Children’s Hospital Zurich; Prof M. Steinlin, University Children’s Ho spital Bern; Dr P. Sharples, Profes F. O’Callaghan and A. Lux).
Kazuo Minematsu
Dr. Kazuo Minematsu is the Deputy Director General of the Hospital, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC), Osaka, Japan. He graduated from Kyushu University in 1977, and has worked in the NCVC since 1979. He studied in the Lab of the University of Massachusetts with Prof. Marc Fisher, who is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Stroke. He published many experimental and clinical studies in stroke and neurology journals. He is now the President of Japan Academy of Neurosonology, a member of the Board of Directors of World Stroke Organization (WSO), Asia Pacific Stroke Organization (APSO), Japan Stroke Association, Japanese Stroke Society, etc., and also an Editorial Board member of Stroke, International Journal of Stroke, Cerebrovascular Diseases, European Journal of Neurology and other scientific journals. He has taken the chair of many research parties and academic meetings for many years.
Marc-Antoine Labeyrie
Interventional Neuroradiologist at Lariboisière Hospital since 2009
Principal publications: Diffusion lesion reversal after thrombolysis: a MR correlate of early neurological improvement (Labeyrie MA, et al. Stroke. 2012) ; Parent Artery Occlusion in Large, Giant, or Fusiform Aneurysms of the Carotid Siphon: Clinical and Imaging Results (Labeyrie MA et al. AJNR 2014).
Principal investigator of a controlled randomised multicentre study on thrombectomy in ineligible patients to alteplase (fist inclusions in nov. 2014).
Philippe Bijlenga
José Ferro
José M. Ferro was born in Lisbon on 22 October 1951, he graduated in 1975 and received his post-doctorate in medicine in 1987 at the University of Lisbon. He is currently Professor of Neurology, Member of the Scientific Council and President of the Assembly Representatives of the School of Medicine at the University of Lisbon. He is the Director of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Neurology Service of the Hospital de Santa Maria, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte. Director of Neurological Clinical Research Unit of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular.
Member of Editorial Board of the journal Stroke, Journal of Neurology and Cerebrovascular Diseases.
Was President of the European Neurological Society, Vice-President of the Portuguese Society of Neurology and Chairman of the Stroke Portuguese Society. He was a member of the Program Committee of the European Stroke Conference. Has authored or co-authored 269 papers published in international journals and 56 book chapters.
Research in his main area of interest focuses on the issues related to cerebrovascular disease, cerebral venous thrombosis in particular, cognitive and psychiatric consequences of stroke, and stroke in young.
Stefan Engelter
Stefan Engelter graduated from Medical school in 1991.After clinical training in internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology in Basel and Zurich and a stroke research fellowship at the Duke University, Durham, NC (USA) he became a board certified neurologist in 2000. In 2005 he passed the postdoctoral lecture qualification of the University Basel (Switzerland) for his work about the “Clinical significance of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in stroke patients”. In 2011 he became Professor of Neurology. Currently he is Deputy of the head of the Stroke Center Basel and head of the stroke rehabilitation pathway from the Stroke Center Basel to the Neurorehabilitation unit of the Felix Platter-Spital (Basel) where he also serves as neurological leader of this unit. His clinical-scientific activities are focussed on cervical artery dissection, stroke diagnostics (diffusion-weighted imaging), evidence-based therapy, thrombolysis, stroke genetics, stroke epidemiology, stroke in the elderly and stroke rehabilitation. In cervical artery dissection he authored the Cochrane Review about anticoagulants versus antiplatelets in internal carotid artery dissection, has been a founding member of the CADISP-consortium (Cervical Artery Dissection and Ischemic Stroke Patients), which studies environmental and genetic risk factors, as well as treatment issues in cervical artery dissection, and is senior partner of the Swiss translational research study EDIT-CAD – “Etiopathogenesis, Diagnosis, Imaging and Treatment of Cervico-cerebral Artery Dissections: A Multifactorial, Multidisciplinary and Translational Approach” Furthermore he is PI of the randomized controlled TREAT-CAD-Study ( Biomarkers and Antithrombotic Treatment in Cervical Artery Dissection Study
Hakan Sarikaya
Hakan Sarikaya, MD, is neurologist with special interest in stroke medicine. He graduated from the University of Zurich in 2003, where he completed his clinical training and became Assistant Professor 2012 (thesis: “Stroke in the young - mechanism, treatment and outcome”). He currently serves as consultant at Stroke Center of University Hospital Berne in Switzerland. Dr. Sarikaya has conducted and participated in many multicenter trials on acute ischemic stroke, which were funded by Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss Heart Foundation and other institutions. His reseaerch area of interest is thrombolysis and outcome in ischemic stroke, treatment of cervical artery dissection, stroke prevention and impact of obesity on stroke outcome.
