Search

Objective: This is a retrospective study of all adult patients with tetanus managed at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex from 1995-2004. The aim was to study the pattern of adult tetanus in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and see what improvements could be made in the future in particular with regard to decreasing the prevalence in our environment., Method: Data was obtained from the hospital records of all the patients, the admission and discharge registers of the medical wards of the hospital., Result: 79 adult patients with tetanus were managed during the study period and they accounted for 44% of neurological admissions. There were 56 males and 23 females giving a M:F ratio of 2.4 to 1. 45 (57%) of the patients were under 30 yrs of age and two-thirds (67%) had puncture wounds in the lower limbs. 20 patients (25%) had mild tetanus, 16 (20%) had moderate disease and 43 (55%) had severe tetanus. The patients were treated with tetanus antitoxin, antibiotics and sedatives. The mortality rate was 45% and laryngeal spasm was the most common cause of death. None of the patients was managed in the intensive care unit (ICU)., Conclusion: Tetanus remains a major public health problem in Nigeria. It is commonly associated with high mortality due to late presentation. Health education should be promoted to reduce the unacceptable prevalence in our practice setting.

Background and Objective: We report 4 patients who presented with a rare type of vault fracture. This form of fracture has only been described in few instances in the literature., Case Description: All the patients presented with elevation of free skull fracture fragments. The etiologies were assault (1 patient), domestic accident (1 patient), and road traffic accident (2 patients). All the fractures were compound as in previously reported cases. Delay in surgery resulted in cerebral abscess in 1 patient. Surgery was performed in all the patients: wound debrident, duroplasty, and reduction of fracture in 3 patients and craniotomy with excision of abscess in 1 patient. Two of the patients did well after surgery. The patients with abscess died 9 days after surgery. Another patient developed CSF fistula after surgery, and died of aspiration while waiting for the closure of the fistula., Conclusion: Elevated skull fractures in our series were all compound fractures. Both long, sharp objects as well as blunt objects can cause this injury. Delay in surgery could result in intracranial sepsis. We suggest that this fracture should be included in the classification of skull fractures.

Background: Symptomatic pleural effusion following ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt insertion is very rare. The patient was an 8-year-old girl who had VP shunt for hydrocephalus as a result of aqueductal stenosis. Six weeks after surgery, she presented with headache, vomiting and drowsiness. She developed respiratory distress with pain in the right lower chest region and right hypochondrium on admission., Methods: Chest X-ray confirmed right hydrothorax and showed the tip of the peritoneal catheter in the right suprahepatic subphrenic space. Her symptoms abated after the catheter was repositioned from the subphrenic region to the general peritoneal cavity. Repeat chest X-ray confirmed the resolution of the hydrothorax., Discussion: Shunt review without thoracocentesis or thoracostomy is an effective treatment of symptomatic hydrothorax following VP shunt, especially when there is no intrathoracic shunt migration.

Introduction: The central nervous system (CNS) is an important site of HIV infection. As many as one quarter of AIDS patients present with neurological symptoms and up to 75% of the patients may have CNS abnormalities at autopsy. Under these circumstances therefore, differential diagnoses in HIV-positive patients with neurological symptoms constitute a management challenge., Objective: To describe the pattern of cranial computed tomographic (CT) findings in neurosurgical patients with HIV infection., Study Design: Retrospective analysis., Patients and Method: A total of 1907 patients were admitted from October 1996 to October 2001. Sixteen patients were positive for HIV using the Western blot. We reviewed their biodata, clinical features and cranial CT findings., Results: There were 10 male and 6 female patients. Twelve patients had cranial CT. Four patients had lesions that could be attributed to direct infection by HIV virus. Two patients had lesions that suggested immunosuppression from HIV infection. Diffuse breakdown in blood brain barrier (BBB) with contrast enhancement as well as mass effect that was disproportional to the enhancing lesion were common findings in three patients. The other lesions seen on cranial CT could not be directly linked to HIV infection., Conclusion: Apart from the diffuse breakdown in blood brain barrier with disproportional mass effect, our findings were similar to previous reports. Further study with a larger population of patients and, especially, biopsy of the CNS lesion will be needed to confirm our findings.

Background and Objective: There is paucity of data on the pattern and factors affecting the management outcome of patients with spina bifida cystica in the Ife-Ijesa zone, Nigeria. This study was designed to address this research question., Method: One hundred and six consecutive cases of spina bifida cystica who presented in our hospital from January 1990 to December 2004 were reviewed. We obtained information on sociodemographic factors, medical history and management as well as clinical outcome. SPSS was used to analyze the data., Result: Males constituted 54.7% and females 45.2% of cases. Mortality was high in those presented after the 4th week of life (p = 0.04). The malformation occurred in the lumbar and lumbosacral regions in 77.4%. Myelomeningocele was the most common type (86.8%). Hydrocephalus was recorded in 53.8% of patients. Surgical closure was done for 91.5% of the patients. About 77% of all the patients were discharged while 22.7% died. This was significantly related to age at presentation (p = 0.04) and infection before surgery (p = 0.045). Postoperative complications were more frequent in patients with ruptured lesions (p = 0.025), a larger size of defect (p = 0.028) and a lower birth weight (p = 0.006)., Conclusion: Myelomeningocele is the most common type of spina bifida cystica in our environment. Late presentation and preoperative infection are associated with high mortality in our patients., (Copyright 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Pre-hospital care in developing worlds has been found to be grossly deficient compared to high income countries. The pre-hospital care given to road accident victims attending the casualty departments of four tertiary level hospitals in South Western Nigeria was assessed using a one-page pro-forma. 1996 patients with injuries from road crashes were seen in the hospitals, only 172 had any form of pre-hospital care, just 160 were transported in ambulances and none had any form of organized pre-hospital care. The mean arrival time in the hospital after crashes was 93.6 minutes and there was a high rate (29.5%) of inter-hospital referral. For every Revised Trauma Score (RTS), the Probability of survival (Ps) of the patients was higher than the Ps of patients from high income countries.

The objective of this study was to report the pattern of unusual accidental missile head injuries from the use of the locally-manufactured Dane gun, which presented at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Six illustrative patients are presented, each with a peculiar injury. All the patients except one, who died prior to surgery, had wound debridement and elevation of associated fractures with removal of the metallic foreign body. With the exception of the patient that died prior to surgical intervention, all did well without noticeable neurological deficits. Missile injury to the head is increasing. Firearm-related death is also on the increase and our environment is not exempted. Accidental injuries from stray bullets are fairly common; however, self-inflicted injuries are usually due to the improper handling of firearms, particularly by novices, suicide attempts and faulty technology of locally made firearms.

Dementia is a growing medico-social problem worldwide because of the rising population of the elderly. About 10-30% of the cases have been found to be treatable or reversible with the improvement in neuro-diagnostic and neuro-imaging techniques. These reversible cases should be diagnosed without over-investigating the many patients with irreversible disease. We present a case of a reversible dementia due to Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus with dramatic surgical therapeutic response.

Encephalocele is a common congenital problem in the practice of Neurosurgery worldwide, with varying sizes of the underlying skull defects. This study was carried out to determine the size of the problem; to assess whether the skull defects are being under-managed or not; and also to determine those patients that will benefit from cranioplasty. The case notes of the patients with encephalocele managed over a 5 year period were reviewed and the relevant data obtained. Seventy-six percent of the patients had occipital encephalocele. The average diameter of the skull defect was 1.8 cm. Only 2 (9.5%) of the patients had cranioplasty. Cosmesis was acceptable to all the patients. No recurrence was noted in the series studied. We therefore concluded that the skull defects are not being under-managed, however large anteriorly based lesions with wide skull defects (i.e >2.5 cm) will require cranioplasty.

Head injury is an important cause of mortality worldwide. The objective of the present study was to analyse the pattern of fatal head injury among patients seen in University College Hospital, Ibadan. The study was based on retrospective investigation of cases of fatal head injury referred by the coroner to the Department of Pathology, University College Hospital, between 1991 and 2000. Pertinent clinical and postmortem findings were extracted from available coroner's autopsy records. There were 529 cases (402 males and 127 females). Their ages ranged from <1 year to 90 years (mean=33 years), the average age of females (27.8) being less than that of males (34.6) (p=0.00003). 83.8% were road traffic accidents, 8.9% falls from a height, 3.8% assault, and 3% gunshot injuries. 79.1% had a GCS of 8 or less at presentation. The mean survival period of children aged less than 15 years was 2 days while that of adolescents and adults aged 15 years and above was 5.6 days (p=0.02). Subdural (62.4%), subarachnoid (24.6%), epidural (10.2%), and intracerebral (10%) haemorrhages were the major causes of death. Skull fractures occurred in 38.2%, while cerebral contusions occurred in 22.1%. Intracranial infection was relatively uncommon in these patients. The present study has shown that young adults, predominantly males in their most productive years of life, are especially prone to fatal head injury.

The Jehovah's Witnesses (JWS) is a religious sect with strong convictions against acceptance of blood and its products for medical care, including surgery. We present two cases of JWS, aged 24 and 19 years old, who had craniectomy for trauma and craniotomy for tumour excision, respectively. A team approach was employed in the care of both patients. During exhaustive preoperative discussions they re-affirmed their religious convictions but agreed to some modifications. Both patients accepted Acute Isovolaemic Haemodilution (AIH). However one of them insisted on non-discontinuation of the line used in collecting the blood from the vein, as that would constitute blood storage. The preoperative Packed Cell Volume (PCV) was 45% and 41% for the trauma and the tumour patients respectively. Two units of blood (1000 ml) were collected from each patient resulting in post donation PCV of 40% and 33%. The intraoperative blood loss was 300 ml and 2000 ml, respectively, and the units and crystalloid fluids were transfused for replacement. Postoperative PCV were 42% and 25%. The latter improved to 30% over the following two weeks with oral haematinics. The two cases are discussed in the light of the experience gained.

We conducted this study in order to determine whether suturing the scalp wound prior to referral for definitive surgery reduces the rate of wound infection in patients with compound depressed skull fracture and to propose guidelines for the initial management of the wound. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 79 patients with compound depressed skull fractures treated surgically in our unit between January, 1987 and August, 1998 and compared the rate of infection in patients who presented with open wounds with the rate in patients whose scalps were sutured prior to presentation to us. Adults and children were nearly equally represented in this study group. The male to female ratio was 3.6:1. Majority (49/79) of the fractures resulted from vehicular accidents. A total of 27 wounds were infected giving a rate of infection of 34%. Nine of the infections were present pre-operatively while the remaining 18 occurred post-operatively. Of the 52 patients with open wounds (OW) at presentation, 15 had wound infection. In the remaining 27 patients in whom the scalp had been sutured prior to referral (SW), there were 12 wound infections. There was no significant difference in the proportions of infected wounds between the two groups (X2 = 1.92, P > 0.5). In compound depressed skull fractures, suturing the scalp laceration alone prior to referral for definitive surgery did not reduce the rate of infection of the cranial wound. We recommend haemostasis, thorough irrigation of the scalp wound and application of sterile dressings prior to transfer for definitive management, in patients who do not have immediate access to neurosurgical care. Prospective studies are required to validate these findings.