Brain malformations are rare, difficult to diagnose and have unpredictable evolution. They are the major causes of epilepsy, psychomotor development abnormalities and other neurological disorders. The neuroimaging tec...Brain malformations are rare, difficult to diagnose and have unpredictable evolution. They are the major causes of epilepsy, psychomotor development abnormalities and other neurological disorders. The neuroimaging technique of choice for diagnosis of these malformations is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but unfortunately MRI is expensive, and is not available in a poor resource country like Cameroon. CT scan associated to clinical signs can help to suspect or to confirm a malformation. The authors report here three cases of malformations discovered during cranial CT scan at the regional hospital of Ngaoundéré. They are Dandy Walker malformation, Sturge Weber’s disease and hemimegalencephaly. These cases contribute to the knowledge of this rare event, and emphasize the importance of CT scan on their diagnosis in the absence of MRI.展开更多
Cognitive disturbances with neglect-like features have been reported occasionally in patients with chiasmal disorders, so far however with no obvious substrate by conventional brain imaging. Thus, there were no right ...Cognitive disturbances with neglect-like features have been reported occasionally in patients with chiasmal disorders, so far however with no obvious substrate by conventional brain imaging. Thus, there were no right hemisphere lesions that could explain the lateralised visual inattention as observed in particular during monocular visual acuity testing. On this background, we further examined four adult patients who consented to functional 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scan. In three there were no significant findings. The fourth patient, a 26-year-old male with cognitive defects after surgery for craniopharyngioma, will be discussed in more detail. His PET scan demonstrated a widespread reduction of regional metabolic activity in left hemisphere primary visual cortex and higher order visual areas, despite absence of explanatory pathological signal changes on MRI. As present in only one out of four patients, however, the findings do not allow specific pathogenetic mechanisms to be suggested, nor generally to substantiate involvement of higher cerebral circuits. Obviously, even developed imaging has its limits, and in the very theory the visual dysfunctions observed might still depend on higher brain centres’ faulty adaptation to loss of pre-geniculate visual information.展开更多
Pediatric head injury is one of the major health problems. That can be easily evaluated by computed tomographic scanning. This study describes the various findings of pediatric head trauma seen on CT scan, the timely ...Pediatric head injury is one of the major health problems. That can be easily evaluated by computed tomographic scanning. This study describes the various findings of pediatric head trauma seen on CT scan, the timely diagnosis of which plays a vital role in prognosis, especially in semiurban and remote location where the decision for tertiary referral is important. Timely intervention in traumatic brain injury cases reduces morbidity and mortality. Cerebral edema, which is the most common intracranial lesion, can be promptly managed by medicosurgical support with ICP monitoring, thereby improving the overall prognosis. Other lesions commonly seen are subdural hematomas and skull fractures. Limitations of radiographs, ultrasound and MRI in these acute cases, highlight the benefit of CT scans.展开更多
Traumatic brain injury is the most common injury during childhood comprising 60% to 90% injuries in children. Pediatric traumatic brain injury has peculiarities as compared to adults, such as less severe injuries and ...Traumatic brain injury is the most common injury during childhood comprising 60% to 90% injuries in children. Pediatric traumatic brain injury has peculiarities as compared to adults, such as less severe injuries and better prognosis. The purpose of this work was to study the pattern of pediatric traumatic brain injury at the General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2017. Included were all complete medical records of children aged 0 to 15 years old treated for traumatic brain injury, and excluded records of obstetric trauma. Data analysis was done by SPSS software version 18.0. One hundred and three cases of pediatric head injuries were recorded during the study period (frequency 10.43%). The mean age was 7.42 ± 5.028 years, and the sex ratio was 2.67 in favor of boys. Road traffic accidents were the most common etiology (44.7%). 83.5% of the patients were transferred to the emergency department of the Douala General Hospital in second intention and by non-medical transport. The traumatic brain injury was mild in 61.20%. The brain computed tomography scan was performed in 99% of the cases and the most observed lesion was cerebral edema (32.74%). Twenty-eight patients underwent surgical operation. 90.28% of patients have recovered fully, and the global mortality was 3.88%. The prevalence of pediatric traumatic brain injuries at the General Hospital, Douala during the last ten years was 10.43%. Most of the patients recovered fully and the mortality was low.展开更多
Background: Neurological disorder is identified as a severe cause of mortality among the patients. Given the severity of the disorder, various tools have been developed for the effective scanning of the symptoms and c...Background: Neurological disorder is identified as a severe cause of mortality among the patients. Given the severity of the disorder, various tools have been developed for the effective scanning of the symptoms and causes. Objective: The study intends to compare the two advanced neuroimaging tools i.e. computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for assessing the patients of the possible brain, stroke, and neurological disorders concern their neurological symptoms and signs. Method: The retrospective study was conducted and medical records of 151 patients were assessed statistically. Chi-square test was applied to the collected data. Results: The results of the study provided that multiple seizures (15.2%) served as the major cause of examination, followed by a headache (9.9%), visual complaint (7.9%), single seizure (5.3%), gait abnormality (3.3%) and altered consciousness (2.6%);whereas, speech difficulty remained low (1.3%). CT scan findings of the patients reported parieto-temporal area and development of acute hypo densities as the prime concerns, where its results remained insignificant (0.29). Using MRI, unremarkable MRI was majorly reported, followed by lateralized to one side, stable MRI feature, bilateral symptoms, and ischemic disease. The results of MRI were significant (0.00). Conclusion: The study concludes that magnetic resonance imaging is more effective for the evaluation of the neurological disorders as compared to CT scan.展开更多
文摘Brain malformations are rare, difficult to diagnose and have unpredictable evolution. They are the major causes of epilepsy, psychomotor development abnormalities and other neurological disorders. The neuroimaging technique of choice for diagnosis of these malformations is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but unfortunately MRI is expensive, and is not available in a poor resource country like Cameroon. CT scan associated to clinical signs can help to suspect or to confirm a malformation. The authors report here three cases of malformations discovered during cranial CT scan at the regional hospital of Ngaoundéré. They are Dandy Walker malformation, Sturge Weber’s disease and hemimegalencephaly. These cases contribute to the knowledge of this rare event, and emphasize the importance of CT scan on their diagnosis in the absence of MRI.
文摘Cognitive disturbances with neglect-like features have been reported occasionally in patients with chiasmal disorders, so far however with no obvious substrate by conventional brain imaging. Thus, there were no right hemisphere lesions that could explain the lateralised visual inattention as observed in particular during monocular visual acuity testing. On this background, we further examined four adult patients who consented to functional 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scan. In three there were no significant findings. The fourth patient, a 26-year-old male with cognitive defects after surgery for craniopharyngioma, will be discussed in more detail. His PET scan demonstrated a widespread reduction of regional metabolic activity in left hemisphere primary visual cortex and higher order visual areas, despite absence of explanatory pathological signal changes on MRI. As present in only one out of four patients, however, the findings do not allow specific pathogenetic mechanisms to be suggested, nor generally to substantiate involvement of higher cerebral circuits. Obviously, even developed imaging has its limits, and in the very theory the visual dysfunctions observed might still depend on higher brain centres’ faulty adaptation to loss of pre-geniculate visual information.
文摘Pediatric head injury is one of the major health problems. That can be easily evaluated by computed tomographic scanning. This study describes the various findings of pediatric head trauma seen on CT scan, the timely diagnosis of which plays a vital role in prognosis, especially in semiurban and remote location where the decision for tertiary referral is important. Timely intervention in traumatic brain injury cases reduces morbidity and mortality. Cerebral edema, which is the most common intracranial lesion, can be promptly managed by medicosurgical support with ICP monitoring, thereby improving the overall prognosis. Other lesions commonly seen are subdural hematomas and skull fractures. Limitations of radiographs, ultrasound and MRI in these acute cases, highlight the benefit of CT scans.
文摘Traumatic brain injury is the most common injury during childhood comprising 60% to 90% injuries in children. Pediatric traumatic brain injury has peculiarities as compared to adults, such as less severe injuries and better prognosis. The purpose of this work was to study the pattern of pediatric traumatic brain injury at the General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2017. Included were all complete medical records of children aged 0 to 15 years old treated for traumatic brain injury, and excluded records of obstetric trauma. Data analysis was done by SPSS software version 18.0. One hundred and three cases of pediatric head injuries were recorded during the study period (frequency 10.43%). The mean age was 7.42 ± 5.028 years, and the sex ratio was 2.67 in favor of boys. Road traffic accidents were the most common etiology (44.7%). 83.5% of the patients were transferred to the emergency department of the Douala General Hospital in second intention and by non-medical transport. The traumatic brain injury was mild in 61.20%. The brain computed tomography scan was performed in 99% of the cases and the most observed lesion was cerebral edema (32.74%). Twenty-eight patients underwent surgical operation. 90.28% of patients have recovered fully, and the global mortality was 3.88%. The prevalence of pediatric traumatic brain injuries at the General Hospital, Douala during the last ten years was 10.43%. Most of the patients recovered fully and the mortality was low.
文摘Background: Neurological disorder is identified as a severe cause of mortality among the patients. Given the severity of the disorder, various tools have been developed for the effective scanning of the symptoms and causes. Objective: The study intends to compare the two advanced neuroimaging tools i.e. computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for assessing the patients of the possible brain, stroke, and neurological disorders concern their neurological symptoms and signs. Method: The retrospective study was conducted and medical records of 151 patients were assessed statistically. Chi-square test was applied to the collected data. Results: The results of the study provided that multiple seizures (15.2%) served as the major cause of examination, followed by a headache (9.9%), visual complaint (7.9%), single seizure (5.3%), gait abnormality (3.3%) and altered consciousness (2.6%);whereas, speech difficulty remained low (1.3%). CT scan findings of the patients reported parieto-temporal area and development of acute hypo densities as the prime concerns, where its results remained insignificant (0.29). Using MRI, unremarkable MRI was majorly reported, followed by lateralized to one side, stable MRI feature, bilateral symptoms, and ischemic disease. The results of MRI were significant (0.00). Conclusion: The study concludes that magnetic resonance imaging is more effective for the evaluation of the neurological disorders as compared to CT scan.