Background: Congestion of patient waiting areas at commencement of work is the usual scenario in Nigeria's public hospitals. This strains the personnel and facilities. Patients are dissatisfied and lose faith in the system. This study aims to audit the booking system, patient waiting time, and causes of congestion in an ultrasound unit. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective, descriptive study involving 350 patients referred from general outpatient and specialist clinics to the ultrasound unit, twice weekly for 6 weeks. Patients were grouped into two: those with scheduled appointments and the unbooked. The time of scheduled appointment and arrival in the unit and the time of commencement and conclusion of the examination were recorded. Results: Three hundred and eighteen patients had scheduled appointments, while 32 were unbooked. Half of the later were emergencies and the other half were walk-ins. There was no consistency in number of slots and block size. Large blocks of over 20 patients were observed on 33.3% of the days and 51.26% of the patients were given 8:00 am appointments. The average patient waiting time is 132.11 minutes but range from 62 to 220 minutes daily. The radiologists resumed work between 8:17 and 9:29 am each scan day. The average waiting time is shorter for patients who arrived after 11:00 am. Conclusion: Ineffective booking of appointments and Sonologist's tardiness are major predisposition to congestion. Appointments in small blocks at 30 minutes intervals will eliminate congestion, reduce patient waiting time, and improve satisfaction. Point-of-care ultrasound should be introduced in outpatient clinics.
Objectives: The human placenta is the nourishing reservoir for the sustenance of the fetus and synthesizes a growth-stimulating hormone to enhance proper growth and maturation. The size or thickness of the placenta enlarges as the pregnancy progresses in age to attain a favorable state which can cope with the increasing fetal demands. Placental thickness (PT) is a reflector of fetal well-being, and it is related to fetal weight making it necessary to assess the influence of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), a common pathology in pregnancy, on the placental size or thickness. The main objective of this research is to compare and evaluate the PT and fetal weight in PIH and normotensive pregnant women. Material and Methods: The study was a prospective cross-sectional case-controlled study done in the Radiology Department of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. During a 12 months study period, 200 singleton pregnant women (consisting of 100 pregnancy-induced hypertensives and 100 normotensive pregnant women) of between 20 and 40 weeks of gestation were enrolled in this study. The two groups were gestational age-matched. The PT was measured trans-abdominally using an ultrasound scan. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to establish the degree of relationship between PT and other fetal anthropometric and maternal parameters. Results: PT was significantly lower in pregnancy-induced hypertensives than in the controls (28.95 ± 5.71 mm vs. 32.31 ± 5.47 mm, P = 0.000). There was a significant negative correlation between the PT and the degree of proteinuria (P = 0.011). Conversely, a significant positive correlation existed between PT and estimated gestational age (P = 0.000) and also estimated fetal weight (EFW) (P = 0.000), in both groups. This same relationship was observed between the body mass index and PT (P = 0.007) as well as the EFW (P = 0.002) in the control group. The mean EFW in pregnancy-induced hypertensives (2.23 ± 1.07 kg) was higher than in the controls (2.13 ± 1.03 kg), but the difference was not significant (P = 0.505). Conclusion: There was a reduction in the PT in PIH, which may be due to the appearance of proteinuria when the blood pressure was elevated. However, we did not observe the expected reduction in the EFW due to a reduction in PT, which usually results from proteinuria.
Objectives: Stroke or cerebrovascular accident is associated with defects in the circle of Willis; the vascular network that supplies the brain. There is currently lack of literature on the involvement of the circle of Willis in patients with stroke or its association with impending stroke. The objective of the study was to evaluate luminal diameter of arteries that constitute the circle of Willis in patients with stroke using computed tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Material and Methods: Angiograms of 340 male and female patients aged 15–>75 (40.18 ± 1.1 and 43.68 ± 1.18) years with suspected stroke, referred for either brain CTA or MRI in selected hospitals/diagnostic centers in Nigeria were evaluated using RadiAnt and the MicroDicom viewer software applications. A retrospective descriptive research design was adopted with approval from the federal health research ethics committee. Direct measurement of luminal diameter of major arteries of the circle of Willis was done using SPSS version 25 at P < 0.05. Results: From the 340 images assessed, 256 (75.29%) patients had ischemic stroke with luminal diameter of arteries of the circle of Willis ranged from 1 mm to >3 mm while 84 (24.71%) patients were without stroke with luminal diameter ranged from 1 mm to 2.11 mm (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Patients with stroke have larger luminal diameter of arteries that form the circle of Willis when compared to patients without stroke. The study has established for the 1st time, luminal diameter of circle of Willis that may be an index in the sampled Nigerian population.
A 62-year-old Nigerian woman was admitted on account of cervical carcinoma Stage IV and was requested to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Six weeks after commencing this treatment she starting passing feces involuntarily through the vagina. Imaging studies revealed a high sited, medium sized, and rectovaginal fistula (RVF). RVFs have been documented as a late complication of radiotherapy for any gynecological malignancy but it occurred earlier in this patient. A preliminary surgical procedure, a sigmoid-ostomy, was performed successfully and a definitive surgery, a sigmoido-rectal anastomosis, was planned to be done in 18 months after the diagnosis of the RVF but the patient died shortly after the first procedure. The present case indicates that a RVF can occur as an early complication of radiotherapy even when it presents with mild symptoms.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship between uterine placental location and fetal growth restriction and gestational hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A prospective cross-sectional study done in the Department of Radiology of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, within a 4-month period. The study involved a total of 100 singleton pregnant women between 20 to 40 weeks of gestation who were aged 20 to 39 years. Analysis of the data was done using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 Inc. Chicago, IL. RESULTS: The frequency distribution of the placental locations were: anterior – 35%, postero-fundal – 36%, antero-fundal – 18% and posterior – 11%. The highest mean head circumference to abdominal circumference ratio (HC/AC) was seen in subjects with posterior placental location (1.03 ± 0.09), lowest mean estimated fetal weight (EFW) was seen in subjects with antero-fundal placental location (1.87 ± 0.92 kg) while the highest mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were seen in subjects with postero-fundal placental location (113.89 ± 10.50 mmHg and 66.61 ± 7.07 mmHg) respectively. The lowest mean HC/AC was noted in subjects with anterior placental location (1.01 ± 0.08), the highest EFW was noted in subjects with postero-fundal placental location (2.26 ± 1.03 kg) while the lowest mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were noted in subjects with posterior placental location (109.09 ± 5.39 mmHg and 61.82 ± 4.05 mmHg) respectively. There was no significant correlation between placental location and HC/AC, EFW, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.744, p = 0.567, p = 0.671, p = 0.936) respectively. CONCLUSION: Placental location in the uterus has no relationship with intrauterine growth restriction and the development of gestational hypertension in the second half of singleton pregnancies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.