Challenges in Conducting Cerebral Scanning for Stroke in a Hospital in Sub-saharan Africa

Abstract

Stroke, due to its magnitude and mortality, is a real public health problem. To diagnose them, the Souro Sanou Teaching Hospital is equipped with a computed tomography (CT) scanner, to which access remains limited. So, it seemed important to study epidemiological aspects and conditions for carrying out CT scans in patients with stroke. This is a projective descriptive study. Data were collected over 6 months (1 December 2013 to 30 June 2014). Patients admitted to the Souro Sanou Teaching Hospital with clinical suspicion of stroke were included. We collected 153 cases of stroke. The mean age of the patients was 62 ± 15 years, and the sex ratio was 1.43. The mean consultation time was 2.05 ± 1.36 days with a range of 0 to 45 days. Approximately 68.63% of patients underwent brain scanning. The most common reasons for not having a brain scan were death before the scheduled date of the brain scan (41.67%) and lack of financial resources (39.58%). The mean delay for brain scans was 08 ± 06 days. Mortality rate was 31.37%. In the management of stroke, the performance of brain scans is of great interest. However, several factors, including the high cost of a CT scan, may sometimes limit its accessibility.