Department of Radiology, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria.
Department of Radiation Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Ituku-Ozalla Campus, Enugu, Nigeria.
Afr Health Sci. 2020 Sep;20(3):1496-1506. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v20i3.56.
Headache is a common symptomatology necessitating hospital consultations. Despite the prohibitive cost to patients in Nigeria, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an evaluating tool for headache.
To determine the yield of cranial MRI and frequency of significant intracranial lesions among patients with chronic headache.
A three-year retrospective analysis of cranial MR images and records of patients referred to Medicaid Diagnostic Centre in Abuja, Nigeria on account of chronic headache was done. Data was analyzed using SAS software version 9.3.
150 patients aged 9 to 73 years (mean= 39.5 years) with chronic headache were studied. There were 54 males and 96 females with a ratio of 1:1.8. 48% and 52% had normal and abnormal MRI findings respectively. Although the number with abnormal MRI was higher than those with normal exams, this difference was not significant (p=0.624). The commonest neoplastic and non-neoplastic abnormalities were pituitary macroadenoma (4%) and sinusitis (21.3%) respectively.
In our study, MRI had a low diagnostic yield in patients with chronic headache. Therefore, it is expedient that physicians stratify patients with chronic headache based on red flag signs to determine the need for cranial MRI in view of financial burden.
头痛是一种常见的症状，需要进行医院就诊。尽管在尼日利亚，磁共振成像（MRI）的费用对患者来说是一笔巨大的负担，但它已成为头痛评估的一种工具。
确定慢性头痛患者中颅 MRI 的检出率和颅内显著病变的频率。
对因慢性头痛而转诊至尼日利亚阿布贾 Medicaid 诊断中心的患者的颅 MRI 图像和记录进行了为期三年的回顾性分析。使用 SAS 软件版本 9.3 对数据进行分析。
共研究了 150 名年龄在 9 至 73 岁（平均年龄为 39.5 岁）的慢性头痛患者。其中男性 54 例，女性 96 例，男女比例为 1:1.8。48%和 52%的患者 MRI 检查结果分别正常和异常。尽管异常 MRI 的患者数量高于正常检查的患者，但差异无统计学意义（p=0.624）。最常见的肿瘤和非肿瘤异常分别为垂体大腺瘤（4%）和鼻窦炎（21.3%）。
在我们的研究中，MRI 对慢性头痛患者的诊断率较低。因此，医生根据标志症状对慢性头痛患者进行分层，根据经济负担确定是否需要进行颅 MRI 检查，这是明智的。
