Cranial tomographic angiographic evaluation of suspected intracranial vascular abnormalities among a Nigerian cohort

Background: Lately, there has been an increased utilization of computed tomography angiography (CTA) as the preferred first-line modality for the evaluation and diagnosis of most cerebral vascular lesions.Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate suspected intracranial vascular cases, using CTA at a major referral tertiary hospital in South West Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based retrospective study of suspected intracranial vascular cases in all ages and both sexes that had CTA from January 2011 to December 2018. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS version 23.0, and P < 0.005 was considered statistically significant.Results: A total of 128 patients were studied, the mean age was 44.1 ± 17.7 years, and male: female ratio was 1:1.06. The leading clinical diagnoses were as follows: intracranial aneurysms (34/128), subarachnoid hemorrhage (27/128), intracranial vascular tumors (26/128), brain hemorrhage from vascular abnormality (19/128), and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) (10/128). At CTA, 61 patients had vascular abnormalities: intracranial aneurysm was seen in 63.9% with a peak age range of 41­60 years, and the leading location of aneurysms was posterior cerebral artery (18.8%), followed by posterior communicating artery (16.7%) and the cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery (16.7%). AVMs were more common in patients aged 40 years and below (91.7%) in males (66.7%) and in the parietal lobe. Intracranial aneurysms were 3.25 times as common as brain AVMs.Conclusion: Intracranial aneurysms are the predominant vascular lesions, occurring mostly in the older age group. AVMs occurred mostly in younger people, more in males, and predominantly in the parietal lobes. The hospital incidence of aneurysms to AVMs was 3.25:1

Intima-media thickness of femoral arteries and carotids among an adult hypertensive Nigerian population: a case­control study to assess their use as surrogate markers of atherosclerosis

Background: Increased intima-media thickness (IMT) is an established and important surrogate marker for atherosclerosis. Intima-media thickening in the femoral arteries occur earlier and reflect the true extent of generalized atherosclerosis better than in the carotids. Aims: To study the ultrasound-detected morphological changes in the common femoral versus carotid artery wall. Patients and Methods: A case-control study design was used, with 61 adult hypertensive as cases and 61 age-, sex- and BMI-matched normotensive as controls. Variables were participants' characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, and ultrasonographically evaluated IMT of the carotid and femoral arteries. Results: A total of 122 participants were studied. The mean femoral IMT in hypertensives and controls on the right and left was 0.63 ± 0.07mm vs. 0.52 ± 0.06mm [P < 0.0001] and 0.69 ± 0.0 mm vs. 0.55 ± 0.05mm [P < 0.0001]. Also, the mean carotid IMT among hypertensives and controls on the right =0.80 ±0.15mm vs. 0.64 ± 0.06mm [P < 0.0001], and 0.91 ± 0.22mm vs. 0.65 ± 0.06mm [P < 0.0001] on the left. Significant correlation was observed between IMT and age (B = 0.006, P < 0.001 and B = 0.003, P < 0.001), hypertension (B = 0.205, P < 0.001 and B = 0.122, p<0.001), and duration of hypertension (B = 0.02, P < 0.001 and B = 0.006, P = 0.02) the femoral and carotid arteries respectively. Conclusion: The femoral and the carotid artery show similar significantly increased IMT in hypertensive adults. The femoral IMT appears to be a good surrogate marker of atherosclerosis among hypertensive Nigerians