Cranial computerised tomographic assessment of cerebrovascular disease in Osogbo, Nigeria

cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. Non-contrast computerized axial tomography (CT) is the routine imaging modality of choice for acute stroke evaluation, because it is widely accessible, convenient, has a short imaging time, and is sensitive for detection of haemorrhage.

to evaluate the pattern of stroke by computerised tomography (CT) and to relate the clinical diagnosis of stroke to the radiological features.

a retrospective study of 86 patients with suspected stroke who had CT of the brain from October 2005 to December 2008 were studied. The type and location of the stroke were documented and correlated with the age and sex.

Sixty-five (75.6%) out of the 86 patients had CVD. Normal study was noted in 7(8.12%) patients and 14(16.3%) patients had other intracranial conditions wrongly diagnosed clinically as stroke. Ischaemic CVD was the most common [43(66.2%)], haemorrhagic CVD [21(32.3%)] and combined ischaemic and haemorrhagic, one(1.5%). Most [26(60.5%)] of the ischaemic stroke lesions were localized to the region of the middle and anterior cerebral arteries. There were no differences based on gender in the distribution of stroke pattern within the brain or the type of cerebrovascular disease.

ischaemic CVD is the most common stroke. The rate of misdiagnosis of stroke is high in the Osogbo environment.