Carotid Web as a Cause of Ischemic Stroke in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Preliminary Monocentric Descriptive Study of 6 Cases Collected at the Fann Teaching Hospital (Senegal)

Abstract

Introduction: Carotid web (CW), a rare and probably unknown arterial cause of ischemic stroke (IS), is commonly reported in young black patients, al-though most of the published cases resided in a non-African country. We describe the features of the first six Senegalese cases diagnosed at the Neurology Department of the Fann Teaching Hospital in Dakar. Patients and Method: It was a preliminary retrospective and prospective study conducted at the Neurology department of Fann teaching hospital (Dakar-Senegal). The symptomatic CW diagnosis was based on angioCT-scan of the neck arteries. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the modified-Rankin Scale (mRS) were used to assess the severity of the IS and the functional disability after the event, respectively. Results: CW was causing a left sylvian infarction in 4 patients. The mean age of the patients at the IS diagnosis was 41 ± 6 years with a sex ratio of 1. The mean time to diagnosis of CW was 13 months. Smoking (1/6), hypertension (1/6), and obesity (1/6)