How the Cleveland Clinic Brain Study Aims to Reshape Care of Neurologic Disease (Podcast)

Most neurologists are all too familiar with a handful of questions from their patients with newly diagnosed neurological disorders: How long have I had this? Why did I develop this? What can be done about it at this point?

For too long those questions have had no good answers or answers that are woefully inadequate. But now researchers with Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute have launched a first-of-kind longitudinal study directly aimed at trying to answer those types of questions — and, importantly, at developing effective preventive and therapeutic interventions.

The Cleveland Clinic Brain Study will prospectively collect data from thousands of neurologically healthy adults over a 20-year period to identify brain disease biomarkers and targets for preventing and curing neurological disorders.

The landmark investigation — the largest clinical study undertaken for brain disease — is the focus of the newest episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Neuro Pathways podcast. In the episode, two of the study’s co-principal investigators, Andre Machado, MD, PhD, Chair of the Neurological Institute, and Imad Najm, MD, Director of the Charles Shor Epilepsy Center, discuss the following:

• The rationale behind the Cleveland Clinic Brain Study
• Essentials of the study design and inclusion criteria
• How the findings could reshape the nature and timing of interventions for neurological disorders
• Why the study looms large for the next generation of researchers and patients

Click the podcast player above to listen to the 19-minute episode now, or read on for a short edited excerpt. Check out more Neuro Pathways episodes at clevelandclinic.org/neuropodcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Excerpt from the episode

Dr. Machado: This is the first study of this scale, depth and detail to explore the underpinnings of neurological disease before it manifests. The interest here is to study a very, very large cohort of normal individuals without neurological disease and follow them up as they age. We know that while most will age healthy, some unfortunately will age into neurological disease. Our objective is to understand the silent phase of disease — what is happening to the brain, to the body and to overall health in the years that precede the first manifestation. That silent phase will be the most valuable time in which to try new interventions directed at new disease targets.

Podcast host Glen Stevens, DO, PhD: What drove you to develop the study?

Dr. Najm: … Neurologists are all too aware that the diagnosis of neurological disorders during the later stages of life is made after symptoms are reported and/or clinical signs are first seen — and sometimes even later. At that point, there have been changes at the molecular and cellular levels that preceded the clinical signs and symptoms, and neurologists must try to address the disorder at a stage when it is very difficult to stop, let alone trying to prevent it. This is why we saw a clear need for an in-depth characterization of the brain and multiple body systems at various levels before the disease starts — during the silent phase that Dr. Machado mentioned —with a primary goal of identifying the fingerprints of disease before it happens.