Last week Monday, April 7th, was the annual CONTRAST2 meeting in Amsterdam, location AMC.

It was really nice to see so many people affiliated with CONTRAST2 work get together, share their knowledge and experience, and engage in conversations.

From what has been shared, it is clear that many activities and studies in CONTRAST2 are ongoing and progressing really well. Inclusion rates in the different ongoing studies are impressive, and in the following years, we really expect to show CONTRAST2 generated (preliminary)data. We continue to grow our community, fostering collaborations between parties that normally might not interact as much, and developing a strong network spanning even beyond all directly involved parties.  

The day before the annual meeting, on Sunday April 6th, also the annual young talent meeting took place. During this meeting, we strengthen the interaction between the PhDs involved in CONTRAST2, bridging different Work Packages as well as different institutes. Connecting the PhDs, which often includes the trial coordinators from the different studies, is essential to ensure interaction between the different studies, and to make sure that we can learn from each others successes and difficulties.  

We will continue to share our achievements and results, so please stay in touch via our serval news letters, website or LinkedIn.

This months, in Lancet Neurology, a paper is published assessing whether the presence of carotid tandem lesions would modify the safety and efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis in patients who could directly undergo endovascular treatment.
We want to congratulate all authors with this publication!

Fabiano Cavalcante, Kilian Treurniet, Johannes Kaesmacher, Manon Kappelhof, …, Yvo B W E M Roos, Zhong Rong Miao, Zifu Li, Intravenous thrombolysis before endovascular treatment versus endovascular treatment alone for patients with large vessel occlusion and carotid tandem lesions: individual participant data meta-analysis of six randomised trials, The Lancet Neurology,
Volume 24, Issue 4, 2025,Pages 305-315, ISSN 1474-4422, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(25)00045-6.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442225000456?dgcid=coauthor

We are very pleased to announce that the CONTRAST2 call for young talent research travel grants is now open. This call is for PhD students and postdocs working in the acute stroke research field and are affiliated with CONTRAST. This grant, with a maximum budget of €10.000, can fund a visit to a renowned research group in- or outside Europe for a two-month period, during which the applicant can set up a collaboration and data sharing project to complement their research project.

The application deadline is May 15^th, 2025. This call is the second in a series of yearly calls to stimulate young investigators to expand their horizon and become acquainted with international collaboration in research.

For more information and for proposal submission, please visit this page:

Henk Marquering, involved in the valorisation of CONTRAST2, joined this interesting episode of the podcast De Technoloog by BNR (https://www.bnr.nl/podcast/de-technoloog/10567176/ai-in-de-gezondheidszorg-doorbraak-of-overgewaardeerd), were he talks about the use of AI in healthcare.
* Podcast only in Dutch

We would hereby like to inform you that the CASES protocol has been published in the European Stroke Journal! The publication is available via: https://doi.org/10.1177/23969873251319941.

Scientists from Erasmus MC, Amsterdam UMC and Delft University of Technology will jointly receive four million euros from Health~Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, on behalf of the Dutch CONTRAST Consortium. This funding will be used to develop new technologies for stroke care. “These are applications that use advanced measuring methods, artificial intelligence and digital twins’, says Theo van Walsum of the Radiology & Nuclear Medicine department, and work package lead of WP10 “Research infrastructure for data management”. These new applications and technologies are desperately needed and will also contribute to better treatment.

For more information, see also: https://www.health-holland.com/program/PPCONTRAST#:~:text=In%20Public%2DPrivate%20CONTRAST%20(COllaboration,characterization%2C%20and%20treatment%20of%20patients