WSC 2022 | Going beyond chronological age: considering brain reserve for stroke outcome prediction

Faysal Benali, MD, PhD Candidate, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands, discusses the concept of brain reserve and its impact on outcomes following brain injury. Brain reserve refers to one’s ability to tolerate disease pathology, age-related changes, and injury to the brain without developing clinical symptoms. Patients with greater brain reserve show more resistance to damage and have a higher threshold for developing signs and symptoms. Because of this, biological brain aging does not always align with chronological aging and thus, going beyond chronological age in research studies and clinical settings is important. Dr Benali discusses the findings of a recent analysis which found that brain reserve imaging features mediated more than 50% of the impact of age on stroke outcomes. Using brain reserve and brain frailty for outcome prediction, prognostication, and aiding treatment decision making has great promise for the future. This interview took place at the World Stroke Congress 2022 in Singapore.

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