The Research to Understand Stroke due to Haemorrhage (RUSH) programme is dedicated to improving the outcome for adults who have diseases that may cause, or have caused, intracranial haemorrhage. This disease affects about 10,000 adults in the UK, and about 2 million adults in the world, each year. Unfortunately, brain haemorrhage remains as common as ever and as most brain haemorrhage occurs in older people, it is likely to become even more common as people live longer. Furthermore, brain haemorrhage is devastating. Two out of five people affected die within one month of the bleed and another two remain dependent on their families or carers, leaving only one person out of five independent. Care on a stroke unit results in a small improvement in outcome after brain haemorrhage, but there are no specific treatments for this devastating disease. Since 1999, the Research to Understand Stroke due to Haemorrhage (RUSH) programme has focussed on understanding what causes brain haemorrhage, and what influences its outcome. RUSH is part of the University of Edinburgh’s Division of Clinical Neurosciences, which straddles the University of Edinburgh and NHS teaching hospitals to combine patient-centred research. For further information, please see www.dcn.ed.ac.uk/rush
