Stroke consultants
Dr David M Collas
General information:
Name, qualifications:
Dr David M Collas BSc MB, BS FRCP
Practising at:
Watford General Hospital
Specialty:
Stroke Medicine
Sub-specialty:
Acute Emergency Medicine and Care of the Elderly
Special clinical interests:
Stroke, Dementia, Medical Ethics
Current posts (NHS, University):
NHS Consultant, Visiting Lecturer University of Hertfordshire, Honorary Lecturer UCL, Associate Professor at St George’s University of the West Indies
Year of first medical qualification:
1974, MRCP 1977, FRCP 2002
Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies:
- American Academy of Neurology
- American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
- British Association of Stroke Physicians
- British Medical Association
- Regional Specialty Training Committee (East of England Deanery)
- Telemedicine Stakeholders Group (East of England)
- At Watford Hospital: Antimicrobial Committee, Thrombosis Advisory Panel
Contact details:
- Direct telephone number: 01923 244366 ext.3145
- Secretary's name: Laureen Jenkins
- Secretary's telephone number: 01923 217172
Background
Professional profile
Qualified at University College London and UCH Medical School
- BSc 1st Class Honours (Pharmacology) 1971 MB BS 1974
- MRCP (UK) 1977 FRCP 2002
Came to Watford 1998 and set up
- Stroke Prevention Clinic 1999 rapid access one-stop service
- Rehabilitation Stroke Unit 2002 expanded from 6 to 20 beds
- Acute Stroke Unit 2004 expanded from 6 to 13 beds
- Thrombolysis service 2006 clot busting” treatment of acute stroke
- Telestroke out of hours cover 2009 East of England network covering 7 hospitals
- MSc Cardiology & Stroke 2012 University of Hertfordshire
- Thrombectomy service 2017 by transfer to Charing Cross or St George’s Hospitals (a catheter technique to remove clots and unblock arteries in the brain)
RESEARCH
I have published book chapters and over 50 papers and received 288 citations in peer-reviewed literature. My ResearchGate score is 30.1 (top 15% of authors)
Personal research interests
- patients’ recognition, response and behaviour after TIA (transient ischaemia)
- atrial fibrillation, failure to diagnose or treat, introduction of new anticoagulants
- wake-up strokes and use of CT perfusion scanning to guide treatment decisions
- impact of telemedicine on extending emergency stroke care
- cognitive assessment in stroke using Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS)
- cancer-associated strokes, mechanisms and presentation
- continence and bladder function
Presentations at:
- American Academy of Neurology 2007,2008,2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018
- Asian Pacific Stroke Conference 2011, 2017
- European Federation of Internal Medicine 2009
- European Stroke Conference 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,
- International Conference on Heart and Brain 2014, 2016
- Nordic Stroke Conference 2013
- UK Stroke Forum
- World Stroke Conference 2008, 2014, 2016
Publications (recent):
Outcome after stroke – thrombolysis in patients aged over 80 years in the 3 to 4.5h time window: and observational study Ahmed N, Lees K, Ringleb P, Bladin C, Collas D, Toni D, Ford G on behalf of SITS Investigators Neurology 2017;89:1561-1568
IV thrombolysis in very severe and severe ischemic stroke: results from the SITS-ISTR registry Mazya M, Lees K, Collas D et al. Neurology 2015;85:2098-2106
Stroke Medicine: Case Studies from Queen Square (8 cases contributed) Eds. Gill S K, Robertson F, Brown M, Losseff N Springer Verlag 2015
Thrombolysis delivery by a regional telestroke network – experience from the UK NHS Agarwal S, Day DJ, Sibson L, Barry PJ, Collas D, et al. J Am Heart Association 2014;3:e408
Laughing at funerals Madani Y, Azad S, Nachev P, Collas D Quarterly Journal of Medicine 2013 doi: 10.1093/qmed/hct106
Emergency Room or GP following a TIA? A comparison of patient behaviour and speed of assessment in England and Canada Manawadu D, Shuaib A, Collas D Emergency Medicine Journal 2010;27:364-67
Posterior circulation strokes without systemic involvement as the presenting feature of Fabry disease Gregoire SM, Brown MM, Collas DM et al. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2009;80:1414-6
Case reports
- Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (post-partum blind, fits) PMJ
- Cardiac amyloid presenting as cardio-embolic stroke in a young man
Principal Investigator in the following multi-centre national and international trials in stroke
- CADISS carotid artery dissection - anti-platelet v warfarin
- CLOTS 1 DVT prevention using compression stockings in acute stroke
- DNA lacunar 1 & 2 genetic of small deep cerebral infarcts (lacunar strokes)
- ENOS BP control in acute stroke using GTN patch +/- usual treatment
- FOCUS fluoxetine v placebo to enhance response to rehabilitation
- GALA carotid endarterectomy - general v local anaesthesia
- IST-3 thrombolysis outside existing licence (over 80y, up to 6 hours)
- NAVIGATE-ESUS aspirin v rivaroxaban in embolic strokes of uncertain source
- TICH 2 tranexamic acid in treatment of haemorrhagic stroke
- TARDIS triple v dual anti-platelet therapy in stroke prevention
- HEADPOST positioning in acute stroke patient, lying flat v semi-recumbent
- SOS supplementary oxygen therapy in acute stroke care
Reviewer for the journal Stroke
Teaching I enjoy teaching anyone and anywhere to talk about stroke; undergraduates, junior doctors, GPs and their staff, pharmacists, practice nurses, community matrons and anticoagulant nurses. I aim to raise awareness of stroke, its treatment and prevention; I have run courses for the Royal College of Physicians and Royal Society of Medicine M Sc in Cardiology & Stroke – University of Hertfordshire - I founded and run this with Prof Diana Gorog, Cardiologist
AUDIT - National Sentinel Audit of Stroke (RCP) – Watford has achieved “A” grade throughout the past 2 years having participated in all 7 rounds since it the audit started in 1998
PRIZE - West Herts Medical Society Prize for Watford’s Hyperacute Stroke Service 2009
PERSONAL PROFILE
My family and travelling together is my escape from work, and riding my bicycle and playing the organ is my escape from the family!
