ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of acupoint injection with nucleotide plus conventional western medicine treatment for moderate and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods Sixty patients confirmed as moderate and severe COPD were evenly randomized into treatment group and control group.The treatment group was given conventional western medicine treatment and injection with nucleotide on bilateral Dingchuan points,and the control group was given conventional western medicine treatment alone.The treatment lasted for one year.The frequency of COPD acute onset and hospitalization times within one year were recorded.Meanwhile,the severity of dyspnea was evaluated with Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale scoring.Results (1)The frequency of COPD acute onset and hospitalization times within one year in the treatment group were lowered,and the differences were significant compared with those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).(2) After treatment,MRC dyspnea scale scores in the treatment group were improved (P ＜ 0.05 compared with those before treatment),but the improvement of the scores was insignificant in the control group(P ＞ 0.05).The intergroup comparison showed that the effect on improving MRC dyspnea scale scores in the treatment group was superior to that in the control group (P ＜ 0.05),indicating that the severity of dyspnea was much improved in the treatment group as compared with the control group.Conclusion Acupoint injection with nucleotide is effective on enhancing the therapeutic effect of conventional western medicine treatment for moderate and severe COPD.
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of region of interest (ROI) on measurement of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) obtained in diffusion-weighted (DW) MR sequences between spinal tuberculosis and malignancy, selecting the more reasonable and effective measurement of ADC value. We collected the conventional MR sequences and diffusion-weighted imaging data of thirty-two patients with spinal tuberculosis or malignancy confirmed clinically and pathologically from August 2009 to June 2010. Using the conventional MRI as a guide, the signal intensity (SI) and ADC value were calculated by selecting single ROI and the same area multi-ROI within whole lesion at the largest slice of lesion respectively. Using ADC value defined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis as threshold, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ADC value for diagnosing spinal tuberculosis were compared. The results showed that the mean of ADC value at signal ROI was lower than that at the multi-ROI. There was no significant difference between the ADC value of single ROI and multi-ROI. The ADC values from spinal tuberculosis and spinal malignancy obtained in single ROI or multi-ROI showed significant differences. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ADC value for differentiating tuberculosis from neoplastic infiltration at signal ROI is lower than that at the multi-ROI. In conclusion, the ADC acquired multi-ROI can describe preferablywater molecular diffusion and is more useful in differentiating spinal tuberculosis from malignant bone marrow lesions.