Effect of acupuncture and moxibustion on brain functional connectivity network in patients with refractory facial paralysis / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effects of acupuncture on resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in patients with refractory peripheral facial paralysis, and to preliminarily explore the central mechanism of acupuncture for this disease.@*METHODS@#Twenty patients with refractory peripheral facial paralysis were selected as subject and treated with acupuncture at Qianzheng (EX-HN 16), Fengchi (GB 20), Cuanzhu (BL 2), Dicang (ST 4), Jiache (ST 6), Shuigou (GV 26), Chengjiang (CV 24), Yifeng (TE 17), Touwei (ST 8), Sibai (ST 2), Yingxiang (LI 20) and Hegu (LI 4), once every other day, three times a week, 15 times as a course of treatment. The 1-course treatment was given. The score of Sunnybrook (Toronto) facial grading system was used to evaluate the clinical efficacy before and after the treatment. In addition, 20 healthy volunteers were selected as control. For patients, the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans were performed before and after treatment, for healthy volunteers, the scans were performed when they were recruited. The brain magnetic resonance images were analyzed with left primary motor area (LMⅠ) and right primary motor area (RMⅠ) as regions of interest. The differences of rs-FC between patients with refractory peripheral facial paralysis before and after treatment and healthy volunteers were compared.@*RESULTS@#Compared before treatment, the Sunnybrook score was increased after the treatment (<0.05). Compared with healthy volunteers, the functional connection between bilateral primary motor areas (MⅠ) and multiple brain areas were enhanced in patients before treatment, and most of brain areas were located in the anterior motor area (middle frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus), posterior central gyrus, anterior cuneiform lobe, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus and cerebellum lobe. Compared before treatment, the left inferior frontal gyrus was the strong functional connection area between LMⅠ and whole brain after acupuncture treatment, and there was no significant difference between RMⅠ and resting-state whole brain. Compared with healthy volunteers, the functional connections between bilateral MⅠ and multiple brain regions were enhanced after acupuncture, and most of the main brain regions were consistent with those before treatment.@*CONCLUSION@#(1) Acupuncture could effectively improve the clinical symptoms of refractory peripheral facial paralysis. (2) The brain function of patients with refractory peripheral facial paralysis has been changed before acupuncture, which may be caused by the reactive compensation of the brain. (3) Acupuncture could enhance the functional connection between LMⅠ and left inferior frontal gyrus to promote the compensatory response, which may be one of the central mechanisms of acupuncture for refractory peripheral facial paralysis.

Study on inter-individual variability of cerebral response to acupuncture with fMRI / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Effects of inter-individual variability on fMRI of acupuncture were observed and the possible influencing factors were further analyzed.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-six healthy volunteers were selected. And acupuncture was applied at Zusanli (ST 36) on the left side with even manipulation. The same experimental designation and data collecting reference were adopted to collect functional data. Then, the same data processing method was applied for analyzing individual data. Data which did not confirm with data analyzing qualification were rejected. The 26 individual data which met the requirement were taken randomly for 5 times according to the principle of random group division. Five groups named with A, B, C, D and E were thus generated with 11 samples in each. Images were processed with the AFNI software for every group, and the activated brain areas were revealed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Activated areas in the brain were observed in all the 5 groups, and the results vary a lot among different groups. Decreased signals of activated brain areas were observed in group C, while increased signals were seen in group D. Partial increasing and partial decreasing signals appeared in the other 3 groups. Compared with other groups, group D demonstrated totally different activated areas. The rate of difference among different groups is 46.7%-100.0%, and most of the differences were over half of the activated areas.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Under the pre-requisites of strict control of experimental designation, acupuncture method, data collecting and processing, great differences have been found in the activated areas of the brain. It indicates that obvious individual differences existes in the activated areas of the brain with acupuncture. And the difference may greatly influence the researching result of fMRI as well as conclusions of those results.</p>

Value of 3T magnetic resonance dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging in differential diagnosis of musculoskeletal tumors / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the value of magnetic resonance dynamic contrast-enhanced (MR-DCE) and magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (MR-DWI) in the differentiation of benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-three patients with pathologically confirmed musculoskeletal tumors were examined with MR-DCE and MR-DWI. Using single shot spin echo planar imaging sequence and different b values of 400, 600, 800 and 1000 s/mm(2), we obtained the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the lesions. ADC values were measured before and after MR-DCE, with a b value of 600 s/mm(2). The 3D fast acquired multiple phase enhanced fast spoiled gradient recalled echo sequence was obtained for multi-slice of the entire lesion. The time-signal intensity curve (TIC), dynamic contrast-enhanced parameters, maximum slope of increase (MSI), positive enhancement integral, signal enhancement ratio, and time to peak (T(peak)) were also recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>ADC showed no significant difference between benign and malignant tumors when the b value was 400, 600, 800, or 1000 s/mm(2), and it was not significantly different between benign and malignant tumors in both pre-MR-DCE and post-MR-DCE with b value of 600 s/mm(2). TIC were classified into four types type1 showed rapid progression and gradual drainage; type2 showed rapid progression but had no or slight progression; type 3 showed gradual progression; and type 4 had no or slight progression. Most lesions of type1 or type2 were malignant, whereas most lesions of type 3 or type 4 were benign. When using type1 and type 2 as the standards of malignancy, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was 87.23% and 50.00%, respectively. The types of TIC showed significant difference between benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors(χ(2)=17.009,P=0.001). When using MSI 366.62 ± 174.84 as the standard of malignancy, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was 86.78% and 78.67%, respectively. When using T(peak)≤70s as the standard of malignancy, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was 82.89%and 85.78%, respectively. Positive enhancement integral and signal enhancement ratio showed no significant difference between benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>TIC, MSI and T(peak) of MR-DCE are valuable in differentiating benign from malignant musculoskeletal tumors. T(peak) has the highest diagnostic specificity, and TIC has the highest diagnostic sensitivity. The mean ADC value are no significant difference between benign and malignant tumors.</p>

Study on the relative specificity of the heart and lung meridians in brain with fMRI / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the central modulation mechanism on the relative specificity of the Heart and Lung Meridians and to provide the experimental evidence for deeply study on correlation between meridian-viscera and brain.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ten healthy students in Anhui College of TCM were chosen and a modified block design was adopted. After 32 time points of resting and 32 of rotation needling, then 48 of resting and 32 stimulating, and 16 resting time points, functional imagings were collected at last. All the process would last for 10 min 44 sec. Acupuncture work was finished by one acupuncturist with extensive experience by acupuncture at the left Shenmen (HT 7) or Taiyuan (LU 8) with the disposable sterile stainless steel needle, and uniform reinforcing-reducing method was used with frequency of 1 Hz and depth of 1.0 cm. After the experiment, the sensation of acupuncture and the other feeling or psychic process were inquired and recorded detailedly. These data were analyzed by AFNI software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Acupuncture at Taiyuan (LU 8) could excite the contralateral frontal lobe, apical lobe, cerebral ganglion, VI, VIII areas and inferior semilunar lobule of cerebellum, and restrain bilateral callosal gyrus and homolateral gyrus rectus. Acupuncture at Shenmen (HT 7) could excite the contralateral IV-VIII areas of cerebellum, and homolateral VI, VII areas of cerebellum, and restrain parts of homolateral apical lobe.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture at Shenmen (HT 7) of the Heart Meridian and Taiyuan (LU 8) of the Lung Meridian can excite or restrain different brain areas, indicating that there are relatively specific corresponding brain areas for the Heart Meridian and Lung Meridian.</p>

Application value of 3T 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in diagnosing tumors of bone and soft tissue / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors with 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) at 3 Tesla MR scanner and assess the value of 1H-MRS in diagnosing bone and soft tissue tumors and distinguishing benign from malignant tumors. METHODS; Totally 49 patients with clinically and pathologically confirmed bone and soft tissue tumors were enrolled in this study. 1H-MRS was performed before treatment with point-resolved spectroscopy sequence. The imaging characteristics of 1H-MRS for bone and soft tissue tumors were observed and the possible differences between benign and malignant tumors was compared. Since spectra were directly found under single-voxel proton MRS brain examination, the peak height of choline containing compounds (Cho) opposite to the creatine (Cr) and the Cho peak were observed, and then the malignancies of the tumors were judged. Cho/Cr value was calculated and used to distinguishing benign tumors from malignancies.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>1H-MRS spectra of bone and soft tissue tumors were different from those of the normal muscles, and such difference also existed between benign and malignant tumors. The Cho peak disappeared or was extremely low among benign tumors. The Cho/Cr values of malignant tumors and benign tumors were 3.13 +/- 0.9 and 1.34 +/- 1.02, respectively (P = 0.02). Using 1.79 as the threshold value, the Cho/Cr value had sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 94%, 80%, and 90%, respectively, in diagnosing malignancies.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The increased Cho level, as measured by 1H-MRS, is related with the bone and soft tissue malignant tumor. Cho/Cr value is useful in distinguishing benign tumors from malignancies. 1H-MRS can be an important supplement to the conventional magnetic resonance imaging.</p>

A method to enhance user experience of EMR based on mining association rules of incremental updating data / 中国医疗器械杂志

The user experience (EX) of current Electronic Medical Record systems (EMR) is needed to improve. This paper proposed a new method to enhance EX of EMR. Firstly, system template and text characterization are used to make the EMR data structured. Then, the structured date are mined based on mining the association rules of incremental updating data to find the association of the elements of template of EMR and the values of elements. Finally, with the help of mined results, the users of EMR are able to input data effectively and quickly.

A new algorithm for ultrasound image speckle suppression / 中国医疗器械杂志

Ultrasound image has a lot of speckle noise, which brings great difficulties to the feature extraction, recognition and analysis. Especially in the edge extraction, the conventional extraction algorithms are difficult to achieve the desired results because of the speckle noise. To solve this problem, an algorithm based on the anisotropic diffusion equation is presented. The new algorithm combines the robust estimation and considers the characteristic of the speckle noise, so it can suppress the speckle noise effectively and be more robust, thus the edge details of the ultrasound image can be preserved even enhanced, which can provide effective safeguard for the following edge extraction. Furthermore, the paper proposes a new method to compute speckle scale coefficients automatically, which reduces the influence of the human beings, and enhances the stability of the algorithm.

Application of fingerprint identification technology in EMR system / 中国医疗器械杂志

Based on the deep analysis of existing fingerprint identification algorithms, this article proposes an integrative solution to adopt the fingerprint identification technology into EMRS Electronic Medical Records System. It may improve the security of EMRS and raise the working efficiency of physicians effectively.

Angiogenesis and its maturation of hepatocellular carcinoma and its correlation with the deoxyhemoglobin parameters R2 * and T2 * values by using noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the angiogenesis and its maturation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with deoxyhemoglobin parameters R2 * and T2 * values and the lesion/muscle R2*, T2 * ratio by using noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>T2 *, R2 * values and the lesion/muscle R2 *, T2 * ratio in tumor periphery and center were calculated via series T2 * images in a total of 31 patients with surgically and pathologically confirmed HCC. After surgery, all sections were obtained from the specimen periphery in accordance with the MR analyzed areas. Continuous slices of each lesion were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE), and immunohistochemical staining was performed in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Flk-1, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), CD34, and alpha smooth muscle actin (SMA). The expressions of VEGF, Flk-1, and PCNA index (PI) were evaluated. According to CD34 and SMA, some vascular parameters, including number, mean vessel area, total vessel area, circumference, diameter, distance between adjacent vessels, and variety index of microvessel and mature vessel, were calculated with a computed analysis system. The amounts of arterioles and veinlets, mature vessel index, and mean perfused fraction (mPF) were also recorded. All vessel parameters were compared with the calculated values of MRI.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>R2 * value or lesion/muscle R2 * ratio decreased and T2 * value or the lesion/muscle T2 * ratio increased in HCC when compared with hepatic parenchyma (P < 0.05); however, those values between lesion periphery and center and among different pathological grades were not significantly different (P > 0.05). T2 * value and the lesion/muscle T2 * ratio significantly decreased when the expression of VEGF was positive (P < 0.05). T2 * value was negatively correlated with microvessel amount (P = 0.047, r = - 0.639), while T2 * value and the lesion/muscle T2 * ratio were positively correlated with mPF (P = 0.040, r = 0.655; P = 0.048, r = 0.40, respectively). R2 * value was also positively correlated with mean area (P = 0.028, r = 0.688), total area (P = 0.021, r = 0.712) or circumference (P = 0.037, r = 0.663) of microvessel, and negatively correlated with mPF (P = 0.024, r = - 0.702). Meanwhile, the lesion/muscle R2 * ratio was positively correlated with mean area (P = 0.043, r = 0.647) and circumference (P = 0.026, r = 0.694) of microvessels.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>R2 * or T2 * value may be influenced by the variation of deoxyhemoglobin caused by the heterogeneity of angiogenesis.</p>

Algorithm of brain pathology detection based on statistical atlas of attribute vectors / 中国医疗器械杂志

To detect lesions of brain CT automatically, a statistical atlas of attribute vectors (SAAV) was designed and created to describe the multiple features of medical images. By comparing the features of study image with those of SAAV, we successfully detected various kinds of brain lesion. It was demonstrated that the algorithm is effective in detecting various kinds of lesions found on brain CT images. Further studies are needed to make the algorithm more acceptable.

Preliminary study of 3T 1H MR spectroscopy in bone and soft tissue tumors / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one method that can examine noninvasively the alive specimen of the organ, metabolism of the organ and cell, and the biochemistry change. MRS provides the biochemistry information that may be used to diagnose tumors or differentiate the malignant tumor from benign. The objective of this study is to investigate the benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors by 1H-MR spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) on a 3 Tesla MR scanner, then to assess the usefulness of (1)H-MRS in diagnosing bone and soft tissue tumors and distinguishing benign from malignant tumors.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-six patients with bone and soft tissue tumors proved clinically and pathologically were examined with (1)H-MRS. (1)H-MRS was performed to study malignant musculoskeletal tumors, benign tumors and normal muscle adjacent to lesions to analyze the characteristics, and single-voxel point-resolved spectroscopy sequence was used. Proton brain exam-single voxel of (1)H-MRS which directly appeared in the spectrum, was observed to find the peak height of choline compounds (Cho) opposite to the creatine (Cr), and whether there was a Cho peak. Metabolite values were calculated automatically from the area under each metabolite peak by the Functool 3.1 software. Metabolite ratios of Cho/Cr were manually calculated. Then according to the results, it was judged whether there existed benign or malignant tumors. The Kappa statistical test was used to analyze the MRS results, the histopathology data and the surgical situation. Statistics processing was performed using the software package SPSS11.5 for Windows.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1)H-MRS spectra style of bone and soft tissue tumors was different from that of normal muscle, and differences also existed between benign and malignant tumors. Choline level in malignant tumor was markedly higher than that in benign tumors. Cho/Cr in malignant tumor was higher than in benign tumor significantly (P < 0.05). The true positive rate of bone and soft tissue between benign and malignant tumors was 34/36, the true negative rate was 15/18, the false positive rate was 3/18 and the false negative rate was 2/36. Therefore in the group, sensitivity of the (1)H-MRS was 94% (34/36), specificity was 83% (15/18), positive predictive value was 92% (34/37), negative predictive value was 88% (15/17) and the accuracy rate was 91% (49/54). The MRS results and the histopathology inspection conclusions had very good uniformity. The kappa value was 0.76 +/- 0.10 (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The increase of Cho level measured by (1)H-MRS is related to the bone and soft tissue malignant tumor. Cho/Cr in malignant tumor was higher than in benign tumor, so they will play a vital role in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of bone and soft tissue tumors.</p>

Changes of 3-tesla 31P-MR spectroscopy of bone and soft tissue tumors / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the characteristic changes of 31P-MR spectroscopy of bone and soft tissue tumors.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>41 patients were examined by phosphorus surface coil of 3 tesla MR machine, including 18 benign tumor foci and 28 malignant foci, and adjacent normal muscles. The areas under the peaks of various metabolites in the spectra were measured, including phosphomonoester (PME), inorganic phosphours (Pi), phosphodiester (PDE), phosphocreatine (Pcr), adenosine triphosphate (ATP) gamma, alpha, beta. The ratios of the metabolites to beta-ATP, NTP and Pcr were calculated. Intracellular pH was calculated according to the chemical shift change of Pi relative to Pcr.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The ratios of Pcr/PME and PME/NTP in benign and malignant tumor groups were significantly different from those of the normal group (P<0.05). Between benign and malignant tumor groups, the ratios of PME/beta-ATP and PME/NTP were significantly different (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Pcr/PME and PME/NTP are potential diagnostic indexes of bone and soft tissue tumors. PME/beta-ATP and PME/NTP are potential indexes of differential diagnosis of bone and soft tissue tumors.</p>

An algorithm of nodule detection based on high resolution CT images / 中国医疗器械杂志

Combining the speed of two-dimensional detection with the precision of three-dimensional detection, an automatic algorithm based on high resolution CT images is proposed to identify nodules in this paper. Nodule candidates are extracted by a two-dimensional convergence index (CI) filter, then a three-dimensional Hessian matrix detection filter is introduced to reduce false positive lung nodules, Experiments show that the algorithm is effective with a sensitivity of 90% and the false positive lung nodules per slice is 0.33.

Breast tumor classification based on serial grayscale ultrasound images / 中国医疗器械杂志

This paper proposes an algorithm of evaluating the compression depth, and then to extract four normalized mammary elasticity characteristic parameters with respect to the compression depth. The classification experiments show that these elasticity parameters have a good capability in determining whether the tumor is benign or malignant, and if combined with morphological parameters, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity can be improved and increased to 95.19%, 98.82% and 92.16%, respectively.

Segmentation of the prostate ultrasound image based on an improved geodesic active contour model / 中国医疗器械杂志

In this paper, we propose that, the need of the costly re-initialization procedure can be completely eliminated by using the variation formulation, thus increasing the speed of computing operations. The edge detecting function in the geodesic active contour model is improved by incorporating a prior knowledge. The accuracy of the segmentation algorithm can be enhanced by using the minimal variance. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can segment the prostate ultrasound images effectively and avoid the problem of contour leakage.

Three domains filtering for medical ultrasound images denoising / 中国医疗器械杂志

A filtering algorithm is proposed to deal with the medical ultrasonic image series in video format, which uses the relativity in spatial domain, gray value domain and temporal domain simultaneously. For each frame image, the relativity in spatial domain and gray value domain is utilized to construct the adaptive neighborhood first. Then the spatial weighted and gray value weighted filtering is performed in this neighborhood. Finally, the temporal relativity between the adjacent frames is used to perform the temporal weighted filtering. All the weighted filtering in the three domains uses Gaussian kernel, thus the filtering sensitivity resulting from the threshold selection is reduced, and the stability of the algorithm is enhanced. As it can be seen from the experimental results, the three-domains filtering algorithm can suppress the noise effectively, and the edge details can be reserved well. So it is useful for the feature extraction, recognition and analysis.

Diagnosis of prostate cancer using SVM-based ultrasound images / 中国医疗器械杂志

This paper presents a computer-aided diagnosis method for prostate cancer detection using Trans-rectal ultrasound(TRUS) images. Firstly, statistical texture analysis is implemented in every ROI in segmented prostate images. From each ROI, grey level difference vector features, edge-frequency features and texture features in frequency domain are constructed. Then, the number of features is reduced using ANOVA statistics to select the optimal feature subset. Finally, SVM is applied to the selected subset for detecting the cancer regions. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can recognize and detect the cancer images effectively so as to supply essential information for a diagnosis.

Brain CT texture classification with tree-structured wavelet transform / 中国医疗器械杂志

This paper proposes a tree-structured wavelet algorithm for brain CT texture feature extraction. This algorithm is used to analyse subimages automatically and to choose the optimum subimage for feature extraction. Experimental results show that this algorithm can improve the performance of brain CT texture feature extraction.

Segmentation of breast tumor ultrasound images based on an improved C-V model / 中国医疗器械杂志

This paper proposes an improved C-V model, which can avoid the step of re-initialization and simplify the formation of the initial level set function, thus the speed of segmentation can be accelerated greatly. Furthermore, based on the grayscale distribution characteristics of the breast tumor ultrasound images and on the hypothesis of piecewise constant in the C-V model, a semiautomatic segmentation flow has been presented, in which the rough contour is sketched first, and then a subimage would be obtained for the refined segmentation algorithm. This flow has improved not only the accuracy, but also the efficiency of the segmentation algorithm. The experiments show that the proposed algorithm could extract the contour of the breast tumor from the ultrasound images efficiently and accurately, which is fundamentally important for the following target feature extraction and analysis.

Erythropoietin enhances the therapy potency of autologous bone marrow stromal cells in a rat heart infarction model via phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt pathway / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>Erythropoietin (EPO) induces angiogenesis and inhibits apoptosis through the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt (PI3-K/Akt) pathway. Transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) has been shown to improve heart perfusion and function post myocardial ischemia. We investigated whether EPO enhances the therapeutic potency of MSC transplantation in rats with experimental myocardial infarction (MI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n=8 each): myocardial infarction (MI) group, EPO group, MSC group and MSC-EPO group. MI was made by ligating the anterior descending coronary artery. MSC was injected in the infarcted area immediately after ligation in MSC group and MSC-EPO group. EPO (3000 U/kg) was administered i.p. in EPO group and MSC-EPO group for 3 days post MI and on the 14th to 16th day post MI. Cardiac function was measured by echocardiography at 2 and 21 days after MI. MI size was measured, and the level of phosphorylated Akt was assessed by Western blot and immunohistology at 21 days post MI.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>LVEF was significantly lower at 21 days than that at 2 days in MI group while significantly increased in other 3 groups, especially in MSC-EPO group at 21 days than that at 2 days. MI size was significantly lower (20.7%+/-2.3% vs. 24.0%+/-2.3%, 26.0%+/-0.9%, 28.1%+/-1.5%, all P<0.05), capillary density was significantly higher (12.95+/-2.11 vs. 10.78+/-0.99, 10.43+/-1.52 and 6.31+/-0.69, all P<0.05) in MSC-EPO group at 21 days than that in other groups and the ratio of phosphorylated Akt to total Akt measured by Western blot was also significantly higher in MSC-EPO group than other groups (0.36 vs. 0.32, 0.31 and 0.28, all P<0.05). Compared to other groups, Bcl-2 was significantly up-regulated and Bax down-regulated in MSC-EPO group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our results demonstrated that MSC transplantation and EPO infusion could improve cardiac function and EPO enhances the therapeutic potency of MSC transplantation via PI3-K/Akt pathways.</p>