Computerized tomographic pattern of stroke seen in University of Portharcourt Teaching Hospital

Data on Computed tomographic (CT) pattern of stroke abound in literature but they are predominantly from studies done in the Western world. Though most of the reports agree that ischaemic rather than haemorrhagic stroke is prevalent in most climes,no strictly radiology based study can be quoted in the Port Harcourt area. Thus there is the need for accurate data on stroke pattern in Nigerians of the South-South region.

This study was done to establish the CT pattern of stroke seen in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and to determine the relationship between the different stroke patterns and age, sex, including time of presentation.

A prospective study of 203 subjects with clinical diagnosis of stroke who had CT of the brain performed during a 12month period (November 2012 to November 2013).A 2-slice helical CT was used to obtain images in the axial plane. Images were classified as normal or abnormal scans. Abnormal scans were analyzed as ischaemic infarcts, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), subdural haematoma, abscess, neoplasm, meningitis, and cerebral atrophy. The clinical diagnosis, age, sex and time of presentation of the patients were recorded. Statistical analysis was done with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.0.Means were compared using Student's t test. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to correlate CT findings with clinical diagnosis ,age, and sex.P values < 0.05 were considered significant.

The age distribution of the study population ranged from 6-90 years with a mean of 58.3+14.9years. The over 70 age group was most frequent with 24.1% of the subjects. Males were predominant at 51.7% of the sample size. Findings of ischaemic cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were more common than haemorrhagic CVD at 63.2%.

This study revealed a higher incidence of ischaemic stroke compared to haemorrhagic stroke.