Stroke

Salford Royal Hospital has the largest Hyper Acute Stroke Unit in the country, treating patients from all over Greater Manchester 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In the UK, a stroke strikes every five minutes, resulting in over 100,000 new cases and approximately 34,000 deaths each year. Due to an ageing population and better emergency survival rates, there are currently around 1.4 million stroke survivors, making it the leading cause of severe disability in the country.

Stroke is also a risk factor for vascular dementia and depression, and the risk of cognitive impairment is doubled post-stroke. Currently, there are very limited treatments for both stroke and dementia, highlighting a huge unmet need within this area. Focus areas for stroke research include looking at how stroke can be prevented and treated quickly, and how people can be supported following a stroke.

Key people

Our research

Our research covers both ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke. Our work also looks to cover the whole translational pathway, from basic science to clinical care, and further into community care.

We aim to understand:

• the basic biology behind stroke and dementia;
• how to minimise brain damage post-stroke;
• how to facilitate repair and recovery of brain function and improved clinical outcomes;
• managing long-term disability with rehabilitation.

Neurorehabilitation and living with disability

Excellence in our neurorehabilitation and living with disability theme also underpins work in the stroke theme.

This diverse group of psychologists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, methodologists, students and people with lived experience is united by a common goal: to improve experience and health outcomes, transforming the lives of individuals with neurodisability.

This research promotes an understanding of unmet needs, mechanisms of adjustment and recovery, intervention effectiveness, and optimal care pathways.

Visit the Brain Inflammation Group to find out more about our research.

A simpler way to prevent stroke after brain haemorrhage

Can one pill help reduce the risk of another stroke?