SHSCT NICRN Stroke continues the charge.

May 29, 2025

Well done to the NICRN Stroke Team in the Southern Trust who recruited three patients to three studies (TICH-3; MAPS-2; SMART) in one day. A significant feat in its own right but it was also within a week of the Southern Trust going live on Encompass.

TICH-3 is investigating whether Tranexamic acid when administered within 4.5 hours of a spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage can reduced death and disability compared to placebo.
MAPS-2 investigates whether Metoclopramide when compared to placebo can prevent pneumonia following moderate to severe stroke if started within 24 hours of symptom onset.
SMART aims to develop a standardised stroke risk assessment for patients with migrainous symptoms reviewed as suspected TIA. Patients are recruited when attending TIA and Stroke Ambulatory clinics.

These trials are challenging to recruit to as they have tight recruitment windows. It is a credit to the clinical staff who identify potential patients promptly during that initial Stroke Assessment and enable our patients to access 3 trails of novel and cutting edge therapies/interventions. In addition to this the Trust have recently went live on Encompass – the Stroke Research team invested significant time prior to go-live putting in place new processes to ensure smooth recruitment to and safe delivery of Stroke Trials. Recruiting three patients to three different trials successfully tested these processes.

We would like to thank the entire Stroke clinical team in the Southern Trust for their continued support of Stroke Clinical Trials.