The Practice of Cerebral CT at Abidjan: Advocacy for the Implementation of Guidelines

摘要

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), t he 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.