University of Leicester researchers are pioneering use of military radar signal processing methods to help victims of stroke. The Leicester study has discovered that techniques used in radar systems can be modified and have the potential to improve early diagnosis and effective monitoring of stroke victims.
Research by Joanne Cowe in the University’s Medical Physics group led to the breakthrough which offers huge potential to deliver benefits to patients.
“Stroke is the third most common cause of death and the most common cause of adult disability in the UK and is estimated to cost the NHS over £2.3 billion per year,” Cowe said. “One quarter of strokes are due to emboli (blood clots or other foreign bodies) blocking small blood vessels in the brain. Emboli can originate from a number of sources such as the heart or from plaques in arteries in the head or neck due to vascular disease.
“Doppler ultrasound can be used for the detection of emboli in the cerebral circulation and can also be used to monitor the blood flow through vessels to assess if there are any problems such as blockages. Therefore, research into the detection of emboli and vascular disease, using ultrasound, has the potential to reduce stroke death and disability rates, and to generate large financial savings.”
Joanne graduated with a Masters in Electrical and Electronic Engineering before going on to work as a military systems engineer. She then went on to undertake a PhD as part of the University of Leicester’s Medical Physics group. In her PhD she investigated how radar techniques could improve the operation of medical ultrasound devices. In particular she looked at how these technologies could be used to detect and monitor the blood clots or other foreign bodies travelling through blood vessels in the brain which can lead to strokes.