PATTERN OF HEAD COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY REQUESTS AND FINDINGS IN A SPECIALIST HOSPITAL IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Background: Computed tomography (CT) has become a useful imaging modality in medical imaging and its role is increasing and diversifying in the past decades, most especially in the assessment of head pathologies. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the pattern of head computed tomography referrals, requests and findings among patients in State Specialist Hospital, Bauchi State. Methodology: This study is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted from the month of May to August 2016. Thirty six (36) patients who presented for head CT scan were studied. Data collected include demographic information such as date of examination, age and gender of patients, referring clinic, indications for the examinations, and radiological diagnosis. Statistical analysis were done using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were presented and Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the relationship between the findings and referrals. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: There were 27 (75%) males and 9 (25%) females aged 18 to 94 years. A significant proportion of referrals (69.4 %; n = 25) were patients from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, a neighbouring tertiary hospital. The highest indication for head CT was head injury due to RTAs (27.8%), with infarction (25%) being the commonest findings. Conclusion: This study has shown that head injury due to road traffic accidents is the major indication for head CT in Bauchi with the commonest finding being infarction. Computed tomography is a useful modality for diagnosis of various pathologies.