The role of computed tomography in the diagnosis and management of cerebro vascular accident.

Abstract

Cerebrovascular disease (CVA), more frequently known as stroke, is claimed to be the commonest brain disorder. According to Kitchen and Walker (2004), each year about 200 people per 100 000 population will have a first stroke in Europe. CV A may seriously impair health, highly reducing quality of life and it may also kill, thus quick diagnosis is imperial. The risk factors are various but the common ones are: hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia and smoking which all lead to atherosclerosis. These risks are a common factor in the Maltese population and unfortunately cerebrovascular disease is not uncommon, so the researcher decided to investigate more to explore this terrible disease, how it can be imaged and how diagnosis may effect treatment. The investigation involved a prospective study performed on a sample of 34 patients with varying age and gender, who were examined by CT after CV A. The researcher collected this data in the form of questionnaires. This took the form of a non-experimental, exploratory survey. Since the data collected was mostly quantitative, some simple statistics could be worked out to make sense of the data collected from the questionnaires transforming it into information and this manipulation made it possible to draw out light on the research questions asked, confirm literature findings and suggest some recommendations. CVA is a devastating and expensive health problem that strikes many adults leaving them disabled. CT is the primary imaging modality used in most hospital to differentiate between haemorrhage and ischaemia in patients suspected to have CV A. Plain CT is very good at detecting haemorrhage but not very sensitive for ischaemia during the first crucial hours. Unfortunately this is a very important timeframe for therapy options since the onset hours have the highest curative potential and the administration of a thrombolytic agent might reduce the severity of neurological dysfunction. For this purpose CTA and CTP increase the sensitivity by a large percentage and give more chance for the physician to spot the CV A and act quickly. This diagnosis may save lives and improve the quality of life of many patients. The government hospital can also save a lot of money since caring for lifelong disability is more expensive.