SWITCH is a half-day workshop focused on imaging related to stroke diagnosis and treatment. The main goals of the workshop are 1) to introduce the clinical background of challenges/opportunities related to imaging for stroke that are relevant for researchers working in the MICCAI field, and 2) to stimulate discussion and ideas exchange. To this end, there will be keynotes by clinical experts in stroke imaging and treatment, as well as presentations by researchers of on-going work. The tutorial character of the keynotes makes this workshop a perfect introduction for the ISLES workshop in the afternoon.
SWITCH is soliciting full paper manuscripts as well as one-page abstracts to be presented at the workshop. Accepted manuscripts will get a poster or oral presentation during the workshop at MICCAI and will be published in Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) together with the proceedings of the Brainles workshop. The following themes are encouraged, but not exhaustive:
We encourage work involving, among others, the following imaging modalities:
Full paper manuscripts should follow the LNCS guidelines for formatting, and have a length of at most eight pages. All submitted manuscripts will be reviewed on applicability to the workshop topic, scientific quality and clinical relevance. Note that we value novel methodology as well as thorough evaluation. Accepted manuscripts will get a poster or oral presentation during the workshop at MICCAI.
One-page abstracts should be 500 words at most. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed on applicability to the workshop topic, scientific quality and clinical relevance. Note that no publication is intended for the abstracts, and that work-in-progress can be reported as well. Accepted manuscripts will be selected for presentation at the workshop.
The following is a tentative program:
Location: Andalucia 3 in the main Conference Center
Stroke, as a result of insufficient blood supply to the brain, is the 4th cause of death and disability world-wide. The causes of stroke are either a bleeding (hemorrhage) in the brain, or an occlusion of a vessel feeding (part of) the brain. In the latter case, the occlusion may originate from a brain vessel itself, or be a thrombus that originates from a more proximal location (heart, carotid artery).
Currently patients generally undergo non-contrast CT imaging, as well as a contrast-enhanced protocol: single phase CTA, multiphase CTA, or CT Perfusion. Some studies also involve MR imaging. From these images, information such as lesion and lesion size, composition of the thrombus, collateral flow and perfusion of brain tissue may be obtained, but few validated tools and quantitative imaging biomarkers have been developed and evaluated for clinical use so far. Often, subjective and at best semi-quantitative measures (e.g. ASPECT score for ischemic stroke) based on the CT images are being used to select patients and to decide on treatment strategy. A recent study that discussed 5 large clinical trials regarding stroke treatment concluded that “it is time to evaluate the optimal imaging protocol for hyper-acute stroke”.
Therefore, the main purposes of this Workshop are
Thus, we intend to compose a program with presentations by researchers of on-going work, based on submitted manuscripts as well as key-note presentations by clinical experts in stroke management, modern imaging for stroke.
Challenges in stroke imaging that will be addressed by the keynotes are:
Please contact us for further questions and comments via email at switchworkshop2018@gmail.com
