STROKE Lab focuses on improving the outcome of stroke patients by developing AI-based models for various stages in the patient journey and assessing these models for clinical practice. The lab is a collaboration between Erasmus MC and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, who bring in clinical domain and academic expertise, and Philips interested in the development of products for clinical decision support.

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STROKE lab focuses on improving the outcome of stroke patients, a medical and socio-economic burden that affects approximately 1 million Europeans each year, with a lifetime risk of 25% [1]. Stroke has an overall mortality of 30% and is a leading cause of death in developed countries [2], with up to half of the patients remaining permanently disabled [3]. Currently, more than 6 million Europeans live with the effects of stroke [4], resulting in enormous costs for treatment and rehabilitation amounting to €38 billion each year in Europe. Moreover, stroke occurrence is increasing in the young population [2], with an estimated 1.5 million strokes expected to occur in Europe each year by 2025.

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We aim to improve the outcome of stroke patients, with benefits for the patients, and reduce socioeconomic costs associated with stroke. To do this, we will support healthcare professionals during decision-making with data-driven AI modeling tools, to improve the efficiency/effectiveness of the entire stroke patient journey, from calling 112 to rehabilitation.

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The Erasmus MC will bring in the clinical domain expertise along the full patient journey (neurology, neuroradiology, rehabilitation), and collaborate with researchers from data science and biomedical image analysis, with large expertise in artificial intelligence and biostatistics. Philips is interested in the research in order to develop products for clinical decision support along the stroke patient journey, and we will work with Philips towards models to be able to learn from data without having to have access to the raw data, setting up a sandbox environment that permits such learning approaches.

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[1] Meairs S, Wahlgren N, Dirnagl U, Lindvall O, Rothwell P, Baron JC, Hossmann K, Engelhardt B, Ferro J, McCulloch J, Kaste M, Endres M, Koistinaho J, Planas A, Vivien D, Dijkhuizen R, Czlonkowska A, Hagen A, Evans A, De Libero G, Nagy Z, Rastenyte D, Reess J, Davalos A, Lenzi GL, Amarenco P, Hennerici M. Stroke research priorities for the next decade–A representative view of the European scientific community. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2006;22(2-3):75-82. doi: 10.1159/000093098. PMID: 16790993.

[2] Béjot Y, Bailly H, Durier J, Giroud M. Epidemiology of stroke in Europe and trends for the 21st century. Presse Med. 2016 Dec;45(12 Pt 2):e391-e398. doi: 10.1016/j.lpm.2016.10.003. Epub 2016 Nov 2. PMID: 27816343.

[3] Hankey GJ. Long-term outcome after ischaemic stroke/transient ischaemic attack. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2003;16 Suppl 1:14-9. doi: 10.1159/000069936. PMID: 12698014.

[4] Truelsen T, Ekman M, Boysen G. Cost of stroke in Europe. Eur J Neurol. 2005 Jun;12 Suppl 1:78-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2005.01199.x. PMID: 15877785.

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