Recently, the research paper titled Stroke in China: advances and challenges in epidemiology, prevention, and management led by Prof. Liu Ming’s team of our hospital’s Neurology Department and coauthored by Chinese and international experts in cerebrovascular diseases, was published in Lancet Neurology, the world’s top academic journal (Lancet Neurol 2019; 18: 394-405, Impact Factor: 28.755). Prof. Liu Ming is the corresponding author, Doctor Wu Simiao and Prof. Wu Bo are the co-first authors. West China Hospital of Sichuan University is the institute of the first authors and correspondent author.

This article conducted multiple temporal and spatial comparisons and comprehensive analysis of the data on the burden and management of stroke in China from 2007 to 2018. It revealed the pattern of development and prognosis of stroke,  illustrated its current situation, progress and challenges in prevention and treatment, and raised future strategies for the improvement. This study along with the research data from 1983 to 2006 published by the team of Prof. Liu Ming in The Lancet Neurology in 2007 (Lancet Neurol 2007; 6: 456-464) will help the Chinese and foreign readers to have a systematic, comprehensive, clear and rapid understanding of the burden and management of stroke during the past 40 years since the economic reform and open-up.

With the support of the National Natural Science Foundation’s key international (regional) cooperation project, the Key R&D Project of National Science and Technology Ministry’s 13th Five-Year Plan, the Key R&D Project of Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Department, and 1.3.5 Project for Excellent Discipline Development of West China Hospital, Prof. Liu Ming’s team is conducting systematic research on  optimising the management of these difficult and hot clinical issues, including haemorrhagic transformation after acute ischaemic stroke, acute cerebral small vessel diseases, severe stroke and large cerebral ischaemic stroke.