Computerized tomographic findings in adolescent and adult Nigerian epileptics

We evaluated CT findings in 75 Nigerians who suffer from epilepsy aged 12 years and over to determine factors associated with positive yield for judicious utilisation of CT. There were 48 males and 27 females with a mean age of 36 +/- 15 years. CT was normal in 41 subjects (54.7%). The commonest CT abnormality was cortical atrophy encountered in 16 subjects. The other abnormalities were occupying lesions (13) comprising 11 neoplasms and 2 subdural haematoma, vascular lesions (4) and poroencephaly (1). The presence of CT abnormality was statistically significantly associated with neurologic deficit, partial seizure type and EEG abnormalities (P < 0.05). The decision on when to request CT scan in epileptics could therefore be influenced by our findings.