A SCOTS-BASED mathematician has been awarded for her role in pioneering research into methods for accelerating the diagnosis of strokes.

Dr Victorita Dolean, of Strathclyde University, was part of the team which jointly won the Bull-Joseph Fourier Prize, awarded for their research aimed at saving lives.

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The research uses medical imaging to help clinicians distinguish more quickly between the two main types of stroke, which have different effects and require different types of treatment.

Dr Dolean and her four colleagues received their prize of €15,000 at a ceremony in Paris. The award is made by Atos, which previously carried out the UK Government's capability assessments, and French national computing agency GENCI.

Stroke occurs approximately 152,000 times a year in the UK alone and is the world’s second largest single cause of death, according to the Stroke Association.

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Dr Dolean, a reader in Strathclyde’s department of mathematics and statistics, said: “Speed of diagnosis is crucial to a patient’s safety and, often, survival in strokes. Part of the reason for this is that there are different types of stroke.

“In our research, we demonstrated an imaging technique, based on microwaves, which allowed the two types of stroke to be distinguished within less than 15 minutes. This technology can be used from the time when a patient is collected and throughout their hospital care.”