The Profile of Head CT Scan Findings in Patients at Sebha Medical Center, Libya

Abstract

Background: Computerized tomography (CT) is one of the most widely available and used methods of imaging. There are no known results published to show the most frequent findings on CT Scans of head in Sebha Medical Center in South Libya or the incidence of the different findings detected on the scans done in our region.

Objectives: To study the characteristics of patients who underwent CT scan of head in our center, to investigate the most common findings in these patients, and to describe the distribution of the findings in relation to patients’ age and sex.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective observational descriptive study that involved reviewing the CT scans of 255 patients who underwent Head CT in our center in the period between the 8^th of March 2015 and 9^th of April 2015. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS program (version 20).

Results: Patients’ age ranged from one month to 89 years of age. Almost equal numbers of male and females were found (129 and 126 respectively). Sixty eight percent of the cases had normal scans. The most common abnormalities were: brain infarction (11.2%), brain edema (6.1%), intracerebral hemorrhage (4.7%) and hydrocephalus (3.6%). Other findings were: skull fractures (3.2%), subdural hematomas (3.2%), masses (1.8%), subarachnoid hemorrhage (1.1%) and intraventricular hemorrhage (1.1%).

Conclusion: Most of the cases that undergo CT scan of head in south Libya have no detectable abnormalities by CT. The most common abnormalities seen are: infarctions (both old and new ones), brain edema, intracerebral hemorrhage and hydrocephalus.

Keywords: Head CT, South Libya, infarctions, intracerebral hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, skull fracture, brain edema, hydrocephalus, intracranial masses.