Glasgow University is at the hub of a new international consortium which aims to advance understanding of brain injury and its treatment.
Head injury is a major cause of death of young adults in Europe, and the European Brain Injury Consortium, chaired by Graham Teasdale of Glasgow's department of neurosurgery, will promote and carry out clinical research on its treatment.
The consortium will bring together neurosurgeons and neuro- logists in more than 100 centres across the continent, investigating the methods of treating the condition in each country, and helping to introduce and evaluate approaches.
Glasgow has signed an agreement with Swiss drugs company Sandoz Pharma to set up a centre to coordinate the consortium's work. Many pharmaceutical companies throughout the world have developed potentially life-saving drugs for brain injured patients, and the European consortium ensures that clinicians will be able to work alongside the pharmaceutical industry in designing and carrying out the necessary clinical trials.
Professor Teasdale will advise on setting up the trials, and how they should be analysed and reported, while the consortium will be a central point from which the quality of studies can be monitored.