Imaging and genomics in stroke

Imaging after ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke may allow measurement of key phenotypes of injury and recovery for which targeted therapies are still lacking. Such imaging endophenotypes provide quantifiable and heritable biomarkers that can represent mechanistic aspects of disease processes better than clinical measures. Artificial intelligence is allowing extraction of these imaging biomarkers in large cohorts, which can be paired with genomic and other omics data. This will allow the evaluation of what genetic and other biologic variations impact stroke injury and recovery. Integration of these analyses with bioinformatics tools (such as Mendelian randomization and multi-trait analysis) could further dissect how stroke complications overlap with other biologic processes and how they may be causally linked to risk factors. Further work is required to confirm the translational impact of these methods in elucidating mechanisms and drug targets for stroke. However, global collaborations are accelerating analyses on large multi-ethnic stroke cohorts, with availability of imaging data facilitated by federally-funded repositories such as the Imaging Repository for the Cerebrovascular Disease Knowledge Portal (iCDKP).