AI detects hidden brain blood-vessel damage linked to stroke and dementia
Covert Cerebrovascular Disease Detected by Artificial Intelligence (C2D2AI): A Platform for Pragmatic Evidence Generation for Stroke and Dementia Prevention
['FUNDING_R01'] · TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER · NIH-10809792
This project uses AI to find hidden small strokes and white-matter changes on routine brain scans in older adults to help prevent future stroke and dementia.
Quick facts
| Phase | ['FUNDING_R01'] |
|---|---|
| Study type | Nih_funding |
| Sex | All |
| Sponsor | TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER (nih funded) |
| Locations | 1 site (BOSTON, UNITED STATES) |
| Trial ID | NIH-10809792 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
What this research studies
If you had a head CT or MRI as part of routine care, this work uses AI tools to spot hidden brain infarcts and white-matter disease that often go unnoticed. The team applies natural language processing to radiology reports and image-analysis algorithms across a large health system to find people over 50 who had no prior stroke or dementia. They link these imaging findings to later stroke and dementia outcomes and build a platform to support pragmatic prevention studies. The goal is to make clinicians and patients aware of these risks and create ways to test treatments to lower them.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults over age 50 who received a head CT or MRI and have no prior history of stroke or dementia, especially if scans show covert infarcts or white-matter changes.
Not a fit: People without brain imaging, those with a prior stroke or dementia diagnosis, or those whose scans show no covert cerebrovascular disease are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify people at higher risk and enable targeted steps to prevent stroke and dementia.
How similar studies have performed: Prior work shows AI and NLP can reliably find these hidden imaging findings and that covert infarcts predict higher risk of stroke and dementia, but direct prevention trials in this group are still limited.
Where this research is happening
BOSTON, UNITED STATES
- TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER — BOSTON, UNITED STATES (ACTIVE)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: KENT, DAVID M — TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER
- Study coordinator: KENT, DAVID M
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Conditions: Alzheimer disease dementia, Alzheimer syndrome, Alzheimer's Disease