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Objective:To investigate the effects of silicon photomutipliers (SiPM) detector and Bayesian penalized likelihood (BPL) reconstruction algorithm on semiquantitative parameters of 18F-FDG PET/CT and diagnostic efficiency for solitary pulmonary nodules/masses compared with traditional photomultiplier tube (PMT) and ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM). Methods:From March 2020 to January 2022, 118 patients (76 males, 42 females, age (63.0±10.1) years) newly diagnosed with solitary pulmonary nodules/masses in First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were prospectively enrolled and underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging with two different PET/CT scanners successively. The images were divided into PMT+ OSEM, SiPM+ OSEM and SiPM+ BPL groups according to PET detector and reconstruction algorithms. The SUV max, SUV mean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of pulmonary nodules/masses were measured, then signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal-to-background ratio (SBR) were calculated. One-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test were performed to compare differences of above parameters among groups. ROC curve analysis was used to analyze the optimal threshold of SUV max for the differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules/masses and AUCs were obtained. Results:There were 83 malignant nodules and 35 benign nodules. The image quality of SiPM+ BPL group (4.23±0.64) was better than that of SiPM+ OSEM group (3.57±0.50) or PMT+ OSEM group (3.58±0.51; F=54.85, P<0.001). There were significant differences in SUV max (7.57(3.86, 15.61) vs 4.95(2.22, 10.48)), SUV mean (4.43(2.28, 9.12) vs 2.84(1.21, 5.71)), MTV (3.54(1.57, 7.67) vs 5.09(2.83, 11.79)), SNR (28.12(12.55, 54.38) vs 20.16(8.29, 41.45)) and SBR (4.03(1.83, 7.75) vs 2.32(0.96, 5.03)) between SiPM+ BPL and SiPM+ OSEM groups ( H values: 16.63-37.05, all P<0.001). The optimal threshold values of SUV max in SiPM+ BPL, SiPM+ OSEM and PMT+ OSEM were 3.31, 2.21, 2.05 with AUCs of 0.686, 0.689, 0.615 for nodules < 2 cm, and were 10.29, 6.49, 4.33 with AUCs of 0.775, 0.782, 0.774 for nodules/masses ≥2 cm. Conclusions:Image quality and parameters of pulmonary nodules/masses are mainly affected by the reconstruction algorithms. BPL can improve SUV max, SUV mean, SBR and SNR, but reduce MTV without significant effect on liver parameters. SiPM+ BPL has a higher diagnostic threshold of SUV max than SiPM+ OSEM and PMT+ OSEM.
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Glioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor. At present, the conventional treatment methods have limited effect and cannot significantly prolong the survival time of patients. Chemokine CCL2 is the most important member of the CC chemokine family, which can regulate glioma angiogenesis, immunosuppression, progression and invasion, and resistance to apoptosis. This article reviews the potential mechanism of CCL2 promoting the malignant progression of glioma, in order to provide new ideas and methods for the targeted therapy of glioma.
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Objective:To improve the quality of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET images at different acquisition times through deep learning (DL) PET image reconstruction methods. Methods:A total of 45 patients (20 males, 25 females; age (52.0±13.6) years) with malignant tumors and PET/CT scans from September 2020 to October 2020 in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were included in this retrospective study. The short acquisition time 30 s/bed PET images from the raw list mode were selected as the input of DL model. DL image reconstruction model, based on the Unet algorithm, was trained to output imitated PET images with full dose standard acquisition time (3 min). The image quality evaluation and quantitative analysis were carried out for four groups of images: DL images, 30 s, 90 s, and 120 s images, respectively. The quality of PET images in four groups was evaluated using the five-point method. Liver background activities, lesions quantification parameters (maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max), mean standardized uptake value (SUV mean), standard deviation (SD), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)), and first-order texture features (skewness, kurtosis, uniformity, entropy) were measured. Kappa test, χ2 test and one-way analysis of variance (least significant difference t test) were used for data analysis. Results:The image quality scores between four groups were highly consistent ( Kappa=0.799, P<0.001). The number of patients with scores≥3 in DL, 30 s, 90 s and 120 s groups were 6, 4, 7 and 8, respectively ( χ2=125.47, P<0.001). The liver SD of DL group was significantly lower than that of 30 s group (0.26±0.07 vs 0.43±0.11; F=3.58, t=-7.91, P<0.05). The liver SNR of DL group was higher than that of 30 s group (11.04±4.36 vs 5.41±1.41; F=10.22, t=5.40, P<0.05). The liver SD and SNR of DL group were similar to those of 90 s group (0.39±0.16, 8.46±3.34; t values: -0.87 and 2.17, both P>0.05). In 18 tumor lesions with high uptake, SNR and CNR of DL group were significantly higher than those of 30 s group (60.21±29.26 vs 38.38±16.54, 22.26±15.85 vs 15.41±9.51; F values: 13.09 and 7.05; t values: 5.20 and 4.04, both P<0.001). There were statistically significant differences among four groups in the first-order texture features ( F values: 4.30-9.65, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between DL group and 120 s group ( t values: from -1.25 to 0.15, all P>0.05). Conclusion:DL reconstruction model can improve the quality of short-frame PET images, which meets the needs of clinical diagnosis, efficacy evaluation and radiomics research.
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Objective:To study the effect and safety of endoscopic ultrasonography guided reverse dissection for refractory benign esophageal stricture.Methods:Seventeen patients with refractory benign esophageal stricture were selected for endoscopic ultrasonography guided reverse dissection in Shunde Hospital, Southern Medical University from January 2016 to December 2019. The clinical data including operation success rate, complications and clinical efficacy were analyzed.Results:All 17 patients were successfully treated with endoscopic ultrasonography guided reverse dissection. The operating time was 38.82±24.27 minutes. No serious complications such as major bleeding, perforation, and infection were found during and after the operation. The follow-up time ranged from 3 to 44 months. Four patients had symptoms of dysphagia again at 3, 12, 18, and 26 months after operation, and re-examination of gastroscopy revealed recurrent esophageal stenosis. The rest of the patients did not re-stenosis until the last time of follow-up.Conclusion:Endoscopic ultrasonography guided reverse dissection is a safe and effective treatment for refractory benign esophageal stricture.
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Objective To research the changes of bile dynamics and plasma levels of cholecystokinin ( CCK ) and vasoactive intestinal peptide ( VIP ) in post-cholecystectomy patients. Methods Twenty-nine post-cholecystectomy patients were selected as observation group, including 14 patients combined with bile duct dilatation and 15 without bile duct dilatation. Another 17 healthy subjects were enrolled as the control group. They were assessed with quantitative 99mTc-EHIDA hepatobiliary scintigraphy to determine bile dynamics. Plasma levels of CCK and VIP were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Scintigraphic analysis demonstrated that the time to maximum counts and half excretion of liver were no significantly different among the three groups ( all P＞0. 05). The developing time of common hepatic duct, time of maximum counts of common bile duct, half excretion of common bile duct, developing time of duodenum, hepatic portal and duodenum transit time significantly increased in the bile duct dilatation group compared with those of the control group ( all P＜0. 05). Development time of duodenum, hepatic portal and duodenum transit time were significantly less in the non-bile duct dilatation group compared with those in the bile duct dilatation group and control group (all P＜0. 05). Fasting plasma levels of CCK and VIP were no significantly different among the three groups ( all P＞0. 05 ), while postprandial plasma levels of CCK and VIP were significantly higher in the bile duct dilatation group compared to those in the other two groups ( P＜0. 05). Conclusion After cholecystectomy, the flow and velocity of bile in bile duct and intestine increases during the interdigestive period for patients without bile duct dilatation, while for patients with bile duct dilatation, bile remains in common bile duct and is blocked from intestine, with gastrointestinal hormone regulation disorder.
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Objective To evaluate catheterization in pancreatic duct before endoscopic papillary bal-loon dilation (EPBD)to prevent pancreatitis after EPBD.Methods Forty-three patients with normal serum amylase levels,diagnosed as having bile duct stones,underwent EPBD.Twenty-three were assigned to experi-mental group,where catheters(ERCP imaging tube)were placed in pancreatic duct before EPBD,then the pa-pillary balloon was expanded to 10 mm.Twenty were assigned to control group where eight-millimeter-diameter papillary balloon was used to remove the stones.The serum amylase levels before EPBD,6 hours and 24 hours after EPBD,the incidence of pancreatitis and high serum amylase levels associated with EPBD,as well as the mean time and success rate of removing the stones of the two groups were compared.Results Post-EPBD pan-creatitis occurred in one patient in experimental group (4.35%),and seven in control group (35.00%), which was significantly different(P <0.05).Meanwhile,the mean levels of serum amylase 6 h and 24 h after EPBD in the experimental group were (102.61 ±98.99)U /L and (60.35 ±26.18)U /L respectively,lower than those in the control group (398.25 ±259.32)U /L and (230.50 ±281.31)U /L(P <0.05).After the papillary balloon was expanded to 10 mm in experimental group,the mean time of removing stones was (10.43 ±2.27)min,which was shorter than that of control group (17.90 ±4.49)min (P <0.05).Stone-re-moving rate of two groups had no difference and they all succeeded one time.Conclusion Placing catheter in pancreatic duct before EPBD to prevent pancreatitis after EPBD makes it easier to remove stones in shorter op-eration time.It can prevent pancreatitis and high amylase blood disease after EPBD.
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Objective To investigate the effect of EST and EPBD on the gallbladder function.Methods Fifty-eight patients who underwent common bile duct lithotomy were divided into three groups,the EST major incision group (21),the EST minor incision group (20) and the endoscopic papillary balloon dilation group (17).Twenty healthy people were involved as the control group.The hepatobiliary dynamic imaging was used to evaluate the gallbladder function,indices including (1) Half time of liver excretion (TEX),(2)Peak time of common bile duct excretion (CBD Tup),(3)Gallbladder imaging time(GBVT),(4) Half time of gallbladder excretion (GBT1/2),(5)Gallbladder excretion fraction at the 30th minute (GBEF30min),(6) Gallbladder excretion rate at the 30th minute (GBER 30 min),(7)Duodenum imaging time (DUT),(8) Peak time of bile flowing in duodenal (DU Tup),(9) Bile ratio in gallbladder at the 30th minute(Fgb),(10)Bile ratio in intestinal at the 30th minute (Fsi).Effects of the three operative methods on the gallbladder function were evaluated.Results Compared with the other two treatment groups and control group respectively,the TEX of the EST major incision group was significantly shorter (P ＜0.05),CBD Tup,DUT and DU Tup appeared earlier (P ＜0.05),GBVT was delayed (P ＜0.001),GBT1/2 was shorter (P ＜0.001),GBEF 30 min was higher (P ＜0.001) and GBER 30 min was faster (P ＜0.001) in this group.Gallbladder and intestines ratio (Fgb,Fsi) at the 30th minute were significantly different (P ＜0.001) with Fgb reducing while Fsi increasing in this group,compared with others.Compared with the control group respectively,neither the minor incision group nor the EPBD group (P ＞ 0.05) showed significant differences in these indices.Conclusion The storage function of gallbladder has been injured and excretion has been enhanced after EST major incision.Neither minor incision nor the EPBD leads to significant change in the gallbladder function.