Background
Post-traumatic epilepsy is defined as the onset of at least one seizure beyond the first week following a traumatic brain injury (TBI). High prevalence of TBI in our setting may contribute to the burden of epilepsy in adult population. This is a retrospective review of medical records of patients admitted from January 1st, 2010 to December 31st, 2019) at Douala General Hospital. We included patients aged ≥ 18 years with seizure onset at least one week after TBI. Incomplete files and previously known epilepsy were excluded. Data on sociodemography, clinical and para-clinical features, treatment and outcome were analysed using R software version 36.2.
Results
We finally included 65 patients with post-traumatic epilepsy among 993 medical records of epilepsy. The mean age was 35.1 ± 12.6 years, with 64.6% of male. Road traffic accident was the main aetiology of brain trauma (78.5%), resulting in haemorrhagic contusions (21.5%), sub-dural haematoma (15.4%), and diffuse axonal lesions (15.4%) mainly. Seizure onset was within 2 years post-trauma in 73.8% of cases. Generalized tonic–clonic seizures were the commonest seizure’s type. Electroencephalogram was abnormal in 81%, including 47% of focal discharges. Antiepileptic drugs were mainly sodium valproate, carbamazepine, and phenobarbital. Seizure freedom was obtained in 67.7% of cases.
Conclusions
Post-traumatic epilepsy is a heterogeneous, frequent and often disabling complication of traumatic brain injury. Road traffic accident is the main cause of brain trauma. It affects a young and active population. About half of cases presented GTCS. With antiepileptic drugs, more than two-thirds of patients become seizure-free.
Background Surgical management of subaxial cervical spine injuries remains challenging. Although intraoperative fluoroscopy is usually used for intraoperative spinal level localization (SLL), it is unavailable in most developing countries. The surgeon therefore has to rely on anatomic landmarks. In our setting, in the absence of intraoperative fluoroscopy, we used the carotid tubercle for SLL. Herein we evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the carotid tubercle as a landmark during surgery for traumatic cervical spine injury.
Methods This was a retrospective cohort study on 34 patients undergoing anterior cervical surgery for subaxial cervical spine fractures and/or subluxation between January 2005 and February 2011. From their medical records, the patients’ sociodemographic, clinical, radiological, and operative data were retrieved and analyzed.
Results Thirty-four patients were included in the study. The mean age was 36.2 years. Thirty patients were males. The mean duration between the trauma and surgical intervention was 9.6 days. Six patients were completely tetraplegic. Fourteen patients had fractures and 20 patients had subluxation. The carotid tubercle was palpable in all the 34 cases. Twenty-two (68.8%) patients had partial or complete neurologic recovery. Complete anatomic reduction was achieved in 30 cases. One case of slight malalignment of the plate was observed. No case of significant deviation nor penetration of the screw into the vertebral canal was found. One patient died.
Conclusions Carotid tubercle, a palpable intrinsic marker, is an attractive anatomic landmark for SLL during surgeries for traumatic spine injuries in resource-limited settings.
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