BrainIT
Head injury is a leading cause of death and many survivors have serious and long-term morbidity. Loss of employment and the stress and increased burden of care to family members have significant social and economic effects upon Europe. Despite many promising multi-centre trials of new drugs and management methods, very few have shown conclusive evidence for improving the survival and outcome of brain injured patients.
Since its establishment in 1997, the BrainIT network has built an extensive record of achievement in brain injury and neurocritical care research. The collaborative nature of BrainIT has facilitated successful grant-funded research programmes and international partnerships and members of the group have contributed to numerous high-impact research initiatives, multicentre studies, and methodological developments that have improved understanding of brain injury pathophysiology, monitoring, and patient outcomes.
A key feature of the group is its multidisciplinary approach to brain injury research. Members represent a diverse range of backgrounds and include: neurosurgeons, neuroanaesthetists, clinical physicists, computer scientists, academic researchers and scientists. Historically BrainIT has focussed on enhancing the collection and standardisation of data, including high-resolution data, from adult and paediatric patients with head injuries. The group's work focuses on developing tools, as well as advanced analytical and artificial intelligence driven approaches, to analyse patient data and generate clinically relevant insights.