TITLE:
The Practice of Cerebral CT at Abidjan: Advocacy for the Implementation of Guidelines
AUTHORS:
N’goran Kouamé, Sorel Fotso Manewa, Anne Marie N’goan-Domoua, Roger Daniel N’gbesso
KEYWORDS:
Cranio-Encephalic CT Scan, Activity Assessment, Scanning Practice, Africa
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
3,
2017
ABSTRACT: Objectives: The aim of
this study was to assess scanning activities at Yopougon University Hospital through its
most common application that is the cranio-encephalic CT in order to make
proposals for the improvement of its use. Patients and Methods: This was a
three-year-cross-sectional study based on cranio-encephalic CT scans performed
at Yopougon University Hospital from January 2011 to December 2013. All CT
scans were performed on a TOSHIBA 64-bar scanner with or without injection of iodinated
contrast agent. The variables studied were the epidemiological-clinical
elements (age, gender and indications), the exploration technique, the overall
results and the various pathologies discovered. Results: The mean age of our
patients was 35.4 years with a predominance of children (age group of 0 and 14
years). The sex ratio was 1.38. Motor deficits (19.3%) and head trauma (17.5%) was the main indication of cranio-encephalic
scanners. We performed 221 examinations without injection of iodinated contrast
agent (36.8%) and 379 examinations with injection of iodinated contrast agent
(63.2%). We recorded 298 normal findings and 302 pathological findings that are 49.7% and 50.3%
respectively. Strokes were the predominant pathology found on the
cranio-encephalic scanners (43.7%) followed by traumatic pathology (20.9%). Conclusion: The rate of
normal findings for cranio-encephalic scanners was very high (49.7%).
Pathological findings were dominated by strokes (43.7%) and traumatic pathology
(20.9%). Infectious pathology was paradoxically rare (3%). A more rigorous
prescription of cranio-encephalic scanners based on a well-conducted clinical
examination and the guides of good use of imaging examinations (guidelines)
could help to reduce the rate of normal scanner at Yopougon University
Hospital.