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Objective:To investigate the value of qualitative characteristics of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and VueBox quantitative parameters in the evaluation of pathological molecular typing of breast cancer.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 133 patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer who underwent CEUS examination in the People′s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from January 2020 to July 2022. The patients were divided into Luminal A type, Luminal B type, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2(HER-2) type and triple negative type according to the results of immunohistochemistry. The differences of qualitative characteristics and quantitative parameters of CEUS in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer were analyzed. The ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of CEUS in the differentiation of molecular subtypes of breast cancer.Results:There were significant differences in enhancement intensity, post-enhancement boundary, filling defect and peripheral radial convergence among different molecular subtypes of breast cancer(all P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in enhancement uniformity ( P>0.05). Peak enhancement (PE), wash-in and wash-out areas under the curve (WiWoAUC), and wash-in ratio (WiR) of HER-2 type and triple-negative type breast cancer were higher than Luminal A type and Luminal B type (all P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that PE and radial convergence had reasonable diagnostic efficiency in Luminal A type, and the areas under the curve were 0.849 and 0.780, sensitivity was 0.711 and 0.889, specificity was 0.909 and 0.671, accuracy was 0.842 and 0.744, respectively. The areas under the curve of PE in diagnosing Luminal B type was 0.852, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 0.825, 0.763 and 0.782, respectively. The area under the curve of WiWoAUC and filling defect in diagnosing HER-2 type were 0.912 and 0.898, the sensitivity was 0.903 and 0.903, the specificity was 0.853 and 0.892, and the accuracy was 0.865 and 0.895, respectively. The area under the curve of clear boundary after enhancement in diagnosing triple negative type was 0.919, and the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 0.941, 0.897 and 0.902, respectively. Conclusions:There are differences in the qualitative characteristics and quantitative parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in different molecular types of breast cancer. CEUS is suggested as a noninvasive modality for preoperative prediction of molecular subtypes of breast cancer.
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Objective:To evaluate the value of VueBox ? contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) quantitative analysis combined with ACR TI-RADS classification in the diagnosis of benign and malignant solid thyroid nodules. Methods:A total of 201 patients with thyroid solid nodules (201 nodules) who underwent surgery or puncture biopsy in the People′s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were enrolled from October 2020 to February 2022. The preoperative conventional ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound images were retrospectively analyzed. According to the pathological results, they were divided into the malignant group and benign group. The differences of the quantitative parameters of CEUS between the two groups were analyzed, including peak enhancement (PE), wash-in and wash-out area under the curve (WiWoAUC), wash-in perfusion index (WiPI). ΔPE, ΔWiWoAUC, ΔWiPI were obtained by calculating the parameter difference between the surrounding normal glands and nodules. ROC curve was used to analyze the value of different quantitative parameters in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant solid thyroid nodules. The CEUS quantitative parameters with best diagnostic performance was selected and combined with ACR TI-RADS classification system to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the single diagnostic approaches and the combined approach.Results:The quantitative parameters of PE, WiWoAUC, WiPI, ΔPE, ΔWiWoAUC, ΔWiPI were significantly different between benign group and malignant group (all P<0.001). ΔPE had the highest diagnostic value among all the quantitative parameters (the area under the ROC curve was 0.802), and the cut-off value was 0.21.ΔPE combined with ACR TI-RADS classification showed the best efficiency in diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, with an area under the curve of 0.898, and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 73.39%, 93.48%, 93.02% and 74.78%, respectively. Conclusions:Quantitative parameters of CEUS by using VueBox ? software is valuable for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant solid thyroid nodules, and its combination with ACR TI-RADS classification can improve the diagnosis accuracy.
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A great number of studies have demonstrated functional abnormalities in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although conflicting results have also been reported. And few studies analyzed homotopic functional connectivity between hemispheres. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were recorded from 45 medication-naïve ADHD children and 26 healthy controls. The regional homogeneity (ReHo), degree centrality (DC) and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) values were compared between the two groups to depict the intrinsic brain activities. We found that ADHD children exhibited significantly lower ReHo and DC values in the right middle frontal gyrus and the two values correlated with each other; moreover, lower VMHC values were found in the bilateral occipital lobes of ADHD children, which was negatively related with anxiety scores of Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R) and positively related with completed categories of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Our results might suggest that less spontaneous neuronal activities of the right middle frontal gyrus and the bilateral occipital lobes in ADHD children.
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Objective To study MRI manifestations of cerebral developmental venous anomaly (DVA)and to analyze the diagnos-tic value of different sequences.Methods Conventional MRI and contrast enhancement 3D-T1 WI were performed in all 10 patients who were collected in our hospital.Among the 10 cases,6 patients underwent MRA and 4 patients underwent MRV.The diaplay of the draining veins and medullary veins were assessed.Results All 10 cases were sporadic lesion,the lesions of 9 cases were located in supra tentorium and which of 1 case was located in infra tentorium.Abnormal signals without characteristics of draining veins in 6 cases and dilated medullary veins in 4 cases were found in conventional MRI,while 6 draining veins showed flow void signal on T2 WI and 3 of the 4 medullary veins showed hypointensity on T1 WI and hyperintensity on T2 WI.Contrast enhancement 3D-T1 WI displayed the markedly enhanced draining veins and dilated medullary veins in all 10 cases of DVA.Numerous medullary veins gath-ered together into large draining veins radially and flowed into superficial or deeper veins,so-called“caput medusae”appearance were found as the characteristics in all cases.MRA and MRV revealed draining veins only partially but no medullary veins.Conclusion MRI could diagnose DVA clearly,the sensitivity of detecting DVA on conventional MRI is low and there are no characteristics ap-pearances.Contrast enhancement 3D-T1 WI is the most accurate and sensitive method,MRA and MRV are not highly worthwhile for diagnosing DVA.
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Objective To observe the effects on and the possible mechanism of early exercise training underlying the mobilization of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Methods One hundred and twenty patients with acute ischemic stroke were randomized into two groups:an early exercise group (treated with exercise training,n =60) and a control group(no exercise training,n =60).Meanwhile,each group was divided into two different age groups (50-68 years group of 32 cases,＞ 68 years group of 28 cases in exercise group;50-68 years group of 29 cases,＞ 68 years of 31 cases in control group).The amount of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in peripheral blood was accounted by flow cytometry (FCM),while the level of vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) in blood serum was examined by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA).National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS),Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) and modified Barthel index (MBI) were used to evaluate the patients at 1st day and 14th day after exercise.Results The amount of circulating progenitor cells after 14 days of exercise training in exercise group (from 27.93 ± 6.08/ml to 457.49 ± 73.02/ml)is higher than in control group(from 28.29 ± 5.93/ml to 81.87 ± 9.92/ml) (P ＜ 0.01).Compared with the control group,the level of VEGF at 14th day of exercise group is significantly higher (P ＜ 0.01).The score of NIHSS,FMA,MBI were not significantly different between exercise group and control group (P ＜ 0.01).However,the score of NIHSS was decrease in both exercise group and control group after treatment.Furthermore,the amount of circulating progenitor cells was not significantly different between the age groups either in exercise group or control group (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Early Exercise training may promote the mobilization of the circulating progenitor cells,which might be related to the increase of VEGF.The mobilization of the EPCs has no effect on the early neurological function after acute ischemic stroke.Age is not associated with the amount of circulating endothelial progenitor cells.
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Objective To investigate the value of spiral CT for the diagnosis and treatment of congenital anorectal malformations (CARM). Methods Thirty children with CARM underwent lateral upside-down plain film in abdomen and spiral CT scanning in pelvic cavity before surgical operation. The distance between rectal blind end and anal fossa in two imaging modalities was measured. The correlation between the measurement results in two imaging modalities was compared with operational results. Sacral deformation was diagnosed according to 3D reconstruction of CT images. Results The measurement results obtained from CT were correlated positively with those of operation (r=0.99, P0.05). Conclusion Spiral CT scanning can accurately describe the atresic level of rectum and malformation of sacrum. It can provide reliable evidence for surgeon to choose the best surgical method and to judge prognosis.
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Objective To determine the effect of reducing the value of mA or kV on the image quality and the radiation dose of the patients undergoing low-dose spiral CT for orthodontics.Methods Thirty patients were divided into three groups,each group has 10 patients.They were group 1(80 kV and 200 mA),group 2 (120 kV and 80 mA),group 3(120 kV and 200 mA)The volume CT dose index(CTDI)was recorded and the average dose-length produce(DLP)was calculated in three groups,respectively.Image quality of three groups were compared and scored by two radiologists,and the results were statistically analysed.Results The CTDI among three groups in diagnostic image quality.Conclusions Low-dose spiral CT for orthodontics,especially the low-kV scan,may decrease the radiation exposure and guarantee the image quality.