Medical team at the Mbingo Baptist Hospital in CameroonFor nearly a decade, a dedicated team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology has been making a meaningful global impact by providing remote CT interpretation and mentorship to hospitals in two resource-limited regions of Africa — Cameroon and Ethiopia.
UAB radiologists provide high-quality subspecialty imaging support, helping fill gaps caused by radiologists’ shortage in resource-poor communities. The UAB team partners with Mbingo Baptist Hospital in Cameroon and Soddo Christian Hospital in Ethiopia and conducts daily reviews and interpretations of CT scans from both hospitals, ensuring patients receive timely and accurate diagnostic imaging.
“These programs have been operational in some form for about 10 years,” said Matthew Larrison, M.D., professor of musculoskeletal imaging. “Our participation includes a scan that needs to be read every day. Over the years, we have seen very interesting and challenging cases, provided valuable insight for specific patients, and seen professional growth in young radiologists.”
The UAB team is multisectoral, including Larrison from musculoskeletal imaging; Jordan Perchik, M.D., from abdominal imaging; Kevin Junck, Ph.D., from imaging informatics; and Desmin Milner, M.D., from neuroradiology.
Bridging the health care gap
For physicians in Ethiopia, the partnership with UAB has significantly improved their turnaround time for CT reports, helping patients who travel long distances to finish their medical work in an ideal one- to two-day span.
“When CT reads are delayed, the patient is greatly burdened to choose staying in town to wait for the results, or to travel back to come later,” said Adam Yates, chief operating officer at Soddo Christian Hospital in Ethiopia. “Since working our workflow into UAB’s, our CT reads have become timely and effective for both physicians and patients.”
Quick access to CT interpretation from UAB experts has guided clinical decision-making for physicians at Mbingo Baptist Hospital in Cameroon.
“Our hospital is a referral center in the region, and we constantly receive complex pathologies from around the country,” Nshom Ernest, chief medical officer at Mbingo Baptist Hospital, said. “In countless instances of head trauma, readily available CT brain images have significantly eased decision-making for our surgeons to determine who needs urgent surgery and who does not.”
Exterior of Mbgino Baptist Hospital in CameroonAnother area that has seen a noticeable difference is cancer staging, which determines action plans for the oncology team. Through UAB’s CT support, internists can readily differentiate between ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, two conditions with similar clinical presentations but contrasting management approaches.
Mentoring the next generation
UAB radiologists play a key role in contributing to increased local expertise. They mentor young radiologists and supervise CT-guided biopsies, expanding the scope of advanced imaging services available on-site and improving diagnostic confidence in complex cases.
“The second opinions that the UAB team provides to our radiology team are a great training opportunity for our physicians to strengthen their diagnostic skills,” Yates said. “When our radiologists need a specialized consultation, the UAB team steps in to evaluate and support diagnoses.”
In some cases, the UAB team has helped make critical treatment decisions. For example, Nate Ross, M.D., a gynecologist who practiced in Birmingham, Alabama, for 20 years before moving to Soddo Christian Hospital as a volunteer missionary physician, shared an instance in which the physician was going to proceed with surgery until a CT interpretation by UAB signaled otherwise, preventing a surgery that would not have benefited the patient at all.
“Sometimes good radiologic care helps us know what ‘not’ to do,” Ross said. “In this scenario, the CT scan showed that attempting the surgery would have an incredibly high chance of major complications because the cancer had spread to the patient’s lungs. Instead, we were able to refer the patient for chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Without a quick turnaround on the CT results, we may have proceeded with the surgery.”
For Larrison and his UAB team, the partnership has been both personally rewarding and professionally fulfilling. Partners in Ethiopia are grateful for this long-standing partnership and are excited to continue it in the years to come.
“We are thankful to the whole team at UAB Radiology for supporting us well to make a seamless connection between our organizations,” Yates said. “It is a huge benefit in a resource-constrained setting to have a group of world-class experts supporting our work.”
Partners in Cameroon are grateful for UAB in dire times like now, in which they are left with no on-site radiologist.
“The sudden resignation of our on-site radiologist has left us devastated and completely dependent on the UAB team for CT interpretation. While we look for a more practical, sustainable solution, we are profoundly grateful to the UAB team for sustaining our CT imaging services.”