[Management of neurological emergencies in developing country: example of Senegal]. / Prise en charge de l'urgence neurologique dans un pays en développement : exemple du Sénégal.

Senegal, like many African countries is facing the so-called demographic and epidemiological transition leading to the development of neurological diseases. These diseases dominated by stroke and status epilepticus are public health priorities with a high prevalence, high lethality and high cost of care. These diseases are managed at the department of neurology, Fann Teaching Hospital, Dakar-Senegal (the only one) with a 65 beds capacity. Unfortunately, access care to the clinic is lately associated with human and material resource scarcity. To improve the management of patients at the clinic, it is important to increase resources (human and material), sensitize the population on early access to health services and prevention of risk factors.

[A prospective longitudinal study of coma in the intensive care unit in an African setting: case of Dakar, Senegal]. / Etude longitudinale prospective des comas en milieu neurologique africain: expérience de Dakar, Sénégal.

Little is known on coma in neurological intensive care unit (NICU) in the setting of developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the morbi-mortality and survival of coma in the NICU of Dakar, Senegal. We carried out a prospective longitudinal study in the NICU of the teaching hospital of Fann in Dakar during a period of 15 months (with 12 months of inclusion) on comatose patients. Were included all patients presenting with a Glasgow score inferior to 9. Standard biological analyses were prescribed for each patient while CT scan was performed if indicated. Daily evaluation was done and complications recorded. Each patient was followed for at least 3 months. Survival was determined by the Kaplan Meier method. 345 patients were admitted in the NICU and 169 were included (48,99 %). The mean age of the patients was 58.04 +/- 17.55 years with a sex ration of 0.92. The mean time from installation of disorders and initial consultation was 47.30 +/- 138.34 hours. Etiologies were vascular disease (71 %), status epilepticus (9.47 %), meningoencephalitis (8.88 %) and metabolic disorders (8.88 %). The mean duration of hospitalization was 8.89 +/- 9.53 days associated with a mortality rate of 82.25 % for the same period. Survival at day 90 was 10.65 %. Mortality was related to infectious condition (28.4 %), renal failure (14.78 %), cardiovascular failure (13.61 %), cerebral engagement (12.43 %), multivisceral failure (11.24 %), pulmonary embolism (1.18 %) and unknown cause (18.34 %). In conclusion, coma is associated with a high mortality rate in our context and suggests that early consultation, a good control of vascular risk factors and better management of infectious condition should reduce this impact.

[Survival of comatose stroke victims in a neurological department in Dakar]. / Survie des accidents vasculaires cérébraux comateux à Dakar (Sénégal).

BACKGROUND: In Dakar, stroke is the most frequent neurological disease with the highest mortality. Victims may present in a critical state of coma. The objective of this study was to evaluate survival among comatose stroke patients in Dakar, Senegal. METHODS: This was a longitudinal prospective study from April 2006 to July 2007 conducted in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Fann University Teaching Hospital in Senegal. Were included in the study, all stroke patients confirmed by CT scan with a Glasgow coma score less than or equal to 8/15. Patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 105 patients were evaluated with 54 cases of ischemic stroke among them. The mean age was 61.87+/-14.16 years. The mean duration of hospital stay in the NICU was 10.82+/-11 days with an estimated mortality of 82.9%; the three-month survival was 9.52%. The median overall survival was 7+/-1 days (CI(95%): 5-9). CONCLUSION: Comatose stroke patients have a poor prognosis, emphasizing the crucial importance of primary prevention.

[Prognosis of intracerebral hemorrhage with coma in a neurological critical care unit in the tropics]. / Pronostic des hémorragies intracérébrales avec coma dans une unité de neuroréanimation tropicale.

Thirty-five percent of stroke events observed in Dakar, Senegal involve hemorrhaging. Coma is a frequent revealing sign of the disease and a severe prognostic factor. Since specific therapy is unavailable in sub-Saharan Africa, only symptomatic medical treatment is proposed to most patients presenting intracerebral hemorrhage. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate prognosis and survival in patients presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage in a neurological critical care unit in Senegal. Study was conducted from April 15, 2006 to July 18, 2007 in the neurological critical unit of the Fann University Hospital Center in Dakar. Mortality and probability of survival were estimated using Kaplan Meier methods. The predictive value of factors significantly correlated with prognosis was determined by multivariate analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model. A total of 51 cases of intracerebral hemorrhage were included in this study. Mean patient age was 64 years and the sex ratio was 1.13. Median survival was 7 days and mortality in the neurological critical care unit was 80.4%. The probability of survival at days 10, 30 and 90 were 43.14%, 21.57% and 13.73% respectively. Occurrence of a complication on day 3 was shown to be an independent risk factor for early death. Intracerebral hemorrhage with coma is associated with a high mortality rate. Better primary prevention is necessary.