INTERACT: the largest-ever study of the treatment of cerebral haemorrhage

Around 17million people suffer stroke each year and of the 11 million survivors, at least one third will remain dependent on others for direct personal care or supervision in their everyday activities. The most lethal of all stroke subtypes is intracerebral haemorrhage, which kills or disables most of those it strikes. 

A flagship program of research at The George concerns the treatment of patients suffering this type of stroke. The focus of the INTERACT study is the effects of immediately lowering the blood pressure of people admitted to hospital with an intracerebral haemorrhage. Previous George Institute studies have shown that long term blood pressure lowering after stroke is a very effective way to reduce stroke recurrence, but there is no clear evidence as to whether lowering blood pressure in hospital immediately after the onset of a stroke provides similar benefit.

Preliminary results from the INTERACT pilot study suggested that rapid blood pressure lowering after intracerebral haemorrhage reduced the amount of intracerebral bleeding, which may have beneficial effects on survival and disability. This is now being tested in the main INTERACT study among 3000 patients with intracerebral haemorrhage from Australia, New Zealand, China, the USA and Korea.

Results from the pilot study were published in Lancet Neurology. Results from the main study should be available in 2012.

The INTERACT Study has been funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Read more about the INTERACT project.