Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and neck (carotid) arteries is commonly used in people with stroke. They help us decide if stroke has occurred and identify causes of stroke such as disease in the very small arteries in the brain or narrowing in the large arteries in the neck. Further, preliminary reports suggest that the shape of blood vessels is related to brain shrinkage and abnormalities in the white matter deep in the brain. We want to explore these areas in the studentship and assess the relationships between neck artery and brain findings on MRI, as well as cognitive function on clinical assessment.

In this PhD studentship we will first manually delineate the carotid arteries in a group of stroke patients and use these data to attempt to develop an automated software tool for reliably identifying blood vessels in the neck. We will then assess whether measures of carotid shape, including subtle features such as minor narrowing, are related to findings on brain scans and cognitive function. Finally, because we will use data from a clinical trial of allopurinol after stroke, we will be able to assess the effect of this drug on the neck vessels.

For details of this project with Dr David Dickie and Prof Jesse Dawson at the University of Glasgow, go to https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=97716

The deadline for application is 20 July 2018