Prevention Of Decline in Cognition After Stroke Trial

PODCAST (ISRCTN85562386)

The 'Prevention Of Decline in Cognition After Stroke Trial' (PODCAST) is a collaborative, international, multicentre, prospective, randomised, blinded endpoint, partial-factorial, parallel-group, controlled trial designed to test the safety and efficacy of (i) intensive versus guideline blood pressure lowering, and (ii) intensive versus guideline lipid lowering in patients with recent (3-7 months) ischaemic stroke or primary intracerebral haemorrhage

83 patients were enrolled 3-7 months after stroke and treatment will be given for up to 4 years. The primary outcome is Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE, which includes MMSE) and will be determined during and at end of trial by observers blinded to treatment. The start-up phase was funded jointly by The Stroke Association and Alzheimer's Society and tested safety, feasibility and tolerability.

Baseline characteristics, analysis plan and report on feasibility for PODCAST (pdf), Trials, 07/11/2015

PODCAST trial

Enter PODCAST trial site

Status

As of close (31st January 2014):
Enrolled patients: 83 with 77 (92.8%) eligible for inclusion in lipid lowering arm
Centres who recruited one or more patients: 23 in UK

The PODCAST team would like to thank all participants for their involvement in the trial: without you, this contribution to stroke research would not have been possible!

Funding

• The Stroke Association (project grant and through The Division of Stroke Medicine, University of Nottingham)
• Alzheimer's Society (project grant)

Forthcoming events

• There are no forthcoming events for PODCAST at this time

News

• November 2014: PODCAST will be presented at the UK Stroke Forum on 3rd December 2014, 14:15 - 15:30 in the King's Suite (Parallel Session 2D).
• February 2014: PODCAST has now closed to screening and randomisation: thankyou to all our investigators for their hard work!
• August 2013: DMC say trial to continue unchanged
• June 2013: Trial Steering Committee, The Stroke Association, London
• April 2013: attended Investigator Meeting, University of Nottingham
• December 2012: attended UK Stroke Forum, Harrogate, UK
• November 2011: attended UK Stroke Forum, Glasgow, UK
• December 2010: attended UK Stroke Forum, Glasgow, UK
• October 2010: First participant recruited, Nottingham
• September 2010: First UK Investigator meeting held, Nottingham. Trial Steering Committee meeting also held.
• September 2009: ISRCTN number issued: ISRCTN85562386
• September 2009: Trial Steering Committee meeting at The Stroke Association, London
• January 2009: Start-up phase of PODCAST trial funded jointly by TSA and AS.

Documents

Newsletters

Presentations/publications/listings/media

• July 2009: Politics.co.uk press release
• July 2009: The Stroke Association press release
• July 2009: Alzheimer's Society press release
• July 2009: UK Stroke Research Network Annual Conference, Newcastle, UK
• May 2009: Peninsula Stroke Research Network Annual Conference, Exeter, UK

Demo/practice site and database

Demo / practice site

Study personnel

Trial Steering Committee:

• Independent experts: John O'Brien (TSC Chair, Cambridge), Stephen Ball (Cardiology, Leeds), one more member to be appointed
• Grant holders: Philip Bath (Stroke/Chief Investigator - lipid lowering arm, Nottingham), Gary Ford (Stroke/Chief Investigator - BP lowering arm, Newcastle), Clive Ballard (Psychiatry, London), Alistair Burns (Psychiatry, Manchester), Jonathan Mant (Public Health, Cambridge), Peter Passmore (Geriatrics, Belfast), Stuart Pocock (Statistics, London), John Reckless (Lipids, Bath), Rob Stewart (Psychiatry, London), Joanna Wardlaw (Neuroradiology, Edinburgh)
• Patient & Carer representatives: Dave Hanbury, John Murray, Shirley Nurock
• Funders' representative: James Pickett (Alzheimer's Society)
• Sponsor representative: Angela Shone (University of Nottingham)

Trial Management Committee (Nottingham):

Independent Data Monitoring Committee:

Cognition/Dementia Adjudicators:

Vascular Events Adjudicators:

Serious Adverse Event Adjudicator:

Neuroimaging:

Health economics:

Programming/database management:

Contact details

Written by Philip Bath, last updated by Dawn Hazle 9th November 2015