SUNLIGHT (Study Using Neurovascular Longitudinal Insights to Guide Head injury Treatment) is a prospective observational study using quantitative MRI techniques to assess neurovascular injury after traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a view to determining a subgroup of individuals for a future precision medicine trial. This study contributes to the MRC-funded TBI-REPORTER resource.
Funded by Ferblanc and the Rugby Football Union.
The Southampton Clinical and Experimental Neurology Team co-led a national surveillance effort to monitor the neurological complications of COVID-19 (CoroNerve Studies Group). Together with colleagues in the Universities of Liverpool and Newcastle and University College London, a diverse range of physician specialist associations UK-wide, and hundreds of case notifiers, we studied the neurological and neuropsychiatric sequelae of COVID-19.
Funded by the University of Southampton, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Gilead Sciences.
National rapid case notification study
We helped interpret patterns of neurological COVID-19 cases reported by physicians to their specialist associations. A clear pattern emerged of a wide spectrum of neurological involvement, and we have published our findings in Lancet Psychiatry. In addition to conventional autoimmune post-infectious syndromes affecting central and peripheral nervous systems, a number of para-infectious and post-infectious neurological syndromes were encountered including cerebrovascular disease syndromes and altered mental states. These required further detailed clinical phenotyping.
Deep phenotyping
In collaboration with reporting physicians, rapid case notification was followed by analysis of detailed demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiological, treatment modalities and outcome data. The aim was to differentiate causality from association, recognize patterns in neurological syndromes, identify risk factors for neurological involvement during COVID-19, establish prognostic factors for long-term clinical outcome and inform refinement of acute clinical care protocols. The Clinical Informatics Research Unit (CIRU), based within the Faculty of Medicine, developed a national case report form which was hosted on the ALEA platform. Our findings have been published in Brain Communications.
Prevention
In collaboration with ISARIC-4C, we investigated the efficacy of dexamethasone and remdesivir in preventing neurological complications of COVID-19. Our findings have been published in Annals of Neurology.