Department of Medicine and Surgery, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria.
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
Ann Med. 2023;55(2):2251490. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2023.2251490. Epub 2023 Aug 29.
Cerebrovascular disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa, and using neuroimaging techniques has improved the diagnosis and management of this disease. However, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews of the role and effectiveness of neuroimaging techniques in the African context.
We reviewed the literature to evaluate the role of neuroimaging in diagnosing and managing cerebrovascular disease in Africa. Our search included electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar from 2000 to April 2023. We included peer-reviewed studies written in English that reported on the use of neuroimaging in diagnosing and managing cerebrovascular disease in African populations. We excluded non-peer-reviewed articles, letters, editorials, and studies unrelated to cerebrovascular disease, neuroimaging, or Africa. A total of 102 potential articles were identified; after applying our exclusion criteria and removing duplicated articles, 51 articles were reviewed.
Our findings suggest that neuroimaging techniques such as CT, MRI, and Skull x-ray play a crucial role in diagnosing and managing cerebrovascular disease in Africa. CT and MRI were the most commonly used techniques, with CT being more widely available and less expensive than MRI. However, challenges to using neuroimaging in Africa include the high cost of equipment and maintenance, lack of trained personnel, and inadequate infrastructure. These challenges limit the widespread use of neuroimaging in diagnosing and managing cerebrovascular disease in Africa.
Neuroimaging techniques are essential for diagnosing and managing cerebrovascular disease in Africa, but challenges to their use must be addressed to improve healthcare outcomes. Our policy recommendations can help improve the availability and accessibility of neuroimaging services in Africa.
脑血管疾病是非洲发病率和死亡率的重要原因，使用神经影像学技术改善了对这种疾病的诊断和管理。然而，在非洲背景下，神经影像学技术的作用和效果缺乏全面的综述。
我们检索了文献，以评估神经影像学在诊断和管理非洲脑血管疾病中的作用。我们的检索包括了从 2000 年到 2023 年 4 月的 PubMed、Scopus 和 Google Scholar 等电子数据库。我们纳入了以英文发表、报告了神经影像学在非洲人群中用于诊断和管理脑血管疾病的研究。我们排除了非同行评议的文章、信件、社论以及与脑血管疾病、神经影像学或非洲无关的研究。共确定了 102 篇潜在文章，在应用排除标准并剔除重复文章后，我们对 51 篇文章进行了综述。
我们的研究结果表明，神经影像学技术，如 CT、MRI 和颅骨 X 线，在非洲诊断和管理脑血管疾病中起着至关重要的作用。CT 和 MRI 是最常用的技术，CT 比 MRI 更广泛应用，成本更低。然而，在非洲使用神经影像学技术存在一些挑战，包括设备和维护成本高、缺乏训练有素的人员以及基础设施不足。这些挑战限制了神经影像学在非洲诊断和管理脑血管疾病中的广泛应用。
神经影像学技术对于在非洲诊断和管理脑血管疾病至关重要，但必须解决其使用方面的挑战，以改善医疗保健结果。我们的政策建议可以帮助改善非洲神经影像学服务的可及性和可用性。
