Building a European 'network of networks' for stroke clinical research - The European Stroke Organisation Trials Alliance (ESOTA)

Peter Kelly; Rustam A Salman; Anita Arsovska; Diederik Wj Dippel; Urs Fischer; Gary A Ford; Blanca Fuentes; Robin Lemmens; John C Marshall; Paul J Nederkoorn; Thompson Robinson; Christian Weimar; Eivind Berge; ESO Trials Network Committee ESOTA Steering Group

doi:10.1177/2396987319845589

Building a European 'network of networks' for stroke clinical research - The European Stroke Organisation Trials Alliance (ESOTA)

Eur Stroke J. 2019 Sep;4(3):224-232. doi: 10.1177/2396987319845589. Epub 2019 May 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Health Research Board, Stroke Clinical Trials Network, Mater University Hospital and University College, Dublin, Ireland.
² Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
³ Medical Faculty, University Clinic of Neurology, University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia.
⁴ Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ University of Oxford, and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
⁷ La Paz University Hospital, IdiPAZ Health Research Institute, Autonoma University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁸ Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁹ Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁰ St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers (AUMC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹² Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
¹³ Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.

Abstract

Promoting research to improve stroke prevention, acute care, and recovery is a key mission of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO). Stroke research networks may increase efficiencies and reduce waste in randomised clinical trials of stroke treatments. Several European countries have established national or regional stroke research networks, or have informal groups or stroke registers which may serve as a foundation for establishing a research network. To increase international collaboration on randomised trials for stroke in Europe, the ESO Trials Network Committee is leading the development of an alliance of national networks, the ESO Trials Alliance (ESOTA). Following initial consultation work in 2017, this paper describes an overview of progress to date in the first year of ESOTA activity. Beginning with five founding networks in England, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, ESOTA aims to gradually grow, ultimately including several hundred stroke centres and affiliated investigators working collectively on randomised trials of new stroke treatments.

Keywords: Europe; randomised trial; stroke; treatment.

Abstract

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