Who we are

The Vascular Training (VAST) Platform is a Canada-wide community that offers diverse training opportunities for researchers in the field of Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI). We provide trainee scholarships, VCI specific course material, professional development, an annual conference, as well as experiential learning opportunities by our collaborations with multiple organizations throughout Canada.

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What is Vascular Cognitive Impairment?

Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI) is an umbrella term to describe all forms of cognitive (i.e., thinking, reasoning, remembering) disorders associated with vascular disease. VCI encompasses the full range of deficits from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

Vascular disease and dysfunction contribute to most cases of dementia, often coexisting with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. Vascular disease can lead to stroke, directly damaging the brain or, more subtly, can induce covert infarctions (i.e., obstructions to blood supply) and/or white matter lesions which accumulate over time and increase the risk for developing dementia. Neurodegenerative processes, including AD, are associated with severe vascular dysfunction.

The Impact of VCI

The burden of VCI is not equally distributed in our populations and communities. A higher burden is experienced among ethnic minorities, immigrant populations, women, and person of lower socioeconomic status. There is a pressing need to determine not only the pathological processes involved, but also the social determinants in order to reduce the risk of VCI.

Projects Championed by VASTees

VAST has catalyzed new relationships between researchers working in the field of VCI, which have led to collaborations that would have not been otherwise possible. We invite you to read about the different work being accomplished by committed researchers working across the VAST network:

  1. Jolene Phelps, Manpreet Singh, Cheryl R. McCreary, Caroline Dallaire-Théroux, Ryan G. Stein, Zacharie Potvin-Jutras, Dylan X. Guan, Jeng-liang D. Wu, Amelie Metz, and Eric E. Smith published the article “Cerebral small vessel disease lesion segmentation methods: A systematic review”. The team summarized novel automated methods developed over the last 10 years that segment cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) lesion types and have been specifically validated on a population with or at risk for CSVD (e.g., older adults, those with cognitive disorders, or those with vascular risk factors). They also assessed all included studies for methodological quality using the METhodological RadiomICs Score (METRICS). Of the 89 studies, 30 (23 for WMH, 5 for CMB, 1 for PVS, and 1 for lacunes) included links to download implementable code or models, and they've provided links for all in an effort to increase their accessibility.