Closing Remarks, Research Themes in Stroke From ISC 2023: Tudor Jovin, MD

WATCH TIME: 10 minutes

"The question becomes, do we really need to do all this sophisticated imaging? If all these patients—whether they have a large infarct or small infarct—can all benefit if it. I hope that will help us also simplify our imaging algorithms and allow us to treat patients faster.”

Stroke research has progressed substantially over the years in terms of treatment and prevention. At the 2023 International Stroke Conference (ISC), February 8-10, in Dallas, Texas, there were many presentations given on the latest research in stroke, including acute stroke and poststroke. As the program chair, Tudor Jovin, MD, participated in the meeting by giving the opening welcome, moderating sessions, presenting awards, and giving closing remarks.

One of the notable abstract presentations from the meeting was the phase 2a study (NCT04734548) that assessed ApTOLL in patients with ischemic stroke. All told, use of the TOLL-like receptor 4(TLR4) antagonist at doses of 0.2 mg/kg within 6 hours of onset in combination with endovascular treatment (EVT) was safe, and associated with reduced mortality and disability at 90 days.¹ Another notable study presented was a phase 1 animal study which that high-fat diet is associated with smaller hippocampal volumes at day 30 and brain atrophy at day 2 and day 30 after stroke, suggesting that atrophy is the result of diet rather than stroke.²

At the last day of the meeting, Jovin, medical director, Cooper Neurological Institute, sat down with NeurologyLive® in an interview to give his clinical perspective on the common themes in stroke including mobile stroke units, neuroprotective agents, and improved patient response time in the systems of care. Jovin, who also serves as the chairman and chief of neurology at Cooper University Health Care, also compared the research presented at this year’s meeting to last year, differences in themes, and how treatment might progress in the future.

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REFERENCES 
1. Hernandez M, Cotgreave I, Gallego J, et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, phase 1b/2a clinical study of ApTOLL for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Presented at: 2023 International Stroke Conference; February 8-10; Dallas, TX. LB2.
2. Herman A, Boisser L, Beatty H, et al. High-fat Diet Induces Brain Atrophy But Does Not Worsen Functional Recovery After Ischemic Stroke In The Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN). Presented at: 2023 International Stroke Conference; February 8-10; Dallas, TX. LB12.