Academic Medical Center

Institute presentation

AMC completely integrates an academic hospital and a medical faculty into one organization. As an academic hospital, AMC is perfectly positioned to conduct both clinical and fundamental biomedical research that is of high relevance to patient care.

The Department of Neurology of AMC has a strong track record in translational and clinical research in the field of neurological infections & stroke. We perform prospective clinical cohort studies, randomized clinical trials, and experimental research, combining our clinical expertise with groundbreaking, translational approaches using clinical data, human samples, next generation sequencing, in vitro techniques, and mouse models. RCTs initiated have changed care of patients with neurological infections and stroke.

In 2002, we completed a RCT on the life-saving effect of adjunctive dexamethasone therapy in bacterial meningitis. Subsequently, we identified defining factors in the prognosis of this devastating disease in the largest cohort study to date. We translated research results to clinical practice in papers on the management of meningitis. In a RCT we evaluated the effect of hypothermia in patients with severe bacterial meningitis. In 2007, we started a nationwide project on genetic traits of host and pathogens that may support the susceptibility to severe forms of bacterial meningitis.

In adults with acute stroke, infections occur commonly and are associated with an unfavorable functional outcome. In the Preventive Antibiotics in Stroke Study (PASS) we aimed to establish whether or not preventive antimicrobial therapy with a third-generation cephalosporin, ceftriaxone, improves functional outcome in patients with acute stroke. A total of 2550 patients from 30 sites in the Netherlands were randomly assigned to intravenous ceftriaxone at a dose of 2 g, given every 24 h intravenously for 4 days, in addition to stroke unit care, or standard stroke unit care without preventive antimicrobial therapy. Results showed that in this particular population preventive ceftriaxone does not improve functional outcome at 3 months in adults with acute stroke. Within PASS we monitored infections and antimicrobial resistance.

Main tasks attributed in the project:

AMC contributed to the project by being leader of the WP3 (Infections and antimicrobial resistance) in which the AMC monitored infections and antimicrobial resistance, and further scientifically contributed to WP1, WP6 and WP7 as well as play a significant role in the dissemination of the projects outcome (WP8).