ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Kwak and ACR( 2017 ) thyroid imaging reporting and data systems ( T I‐RADS ) for thyroid nodules . Methods Cases of thyroid nodule who underwent surgery from January 2015 to M arch 2018 in 15 hospitals in Sichuan province were collected and the ultrasonographic features of thyroid nodules were retrospectively analyzed by trained senior ultrasound physicians using Kwak and ACR T I‐RADS classification methods . Totally ,12 712 thyroid nodules were observed ,7 023 thyroid nodules in 7 023 cases with complete ultrasound and surgical and pathological data were eventually enrolled in the study . T hyroid nodules with solid ,hypoechoic or very hypoechoic ,tall/wide ratio ≥ 1 , margin ill‐defined and microcalcification were classified as malignant signs of ultrasound . M alignant percentage was calculated and diagnostic tests were performed . Results ① T here was a statistical difference between the benign and malignant nodules in the two types of T I‐RADS classification ( P＜0 .01) . ② T he area under ROC curve of Kwak and ACR in the diagnosis of malignant nodules were 0 .89 and 0 .84 ,respectively . T he Youden index of Kwak and ACR were 0 .66 and 0 .57 ,respectively . ③Taking Kwak T I4B and ACR T R4 as critical points for malignancy ,the sensitivity ,specificity ,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of Kwak T I 4B were 75 .0% ,90 .9% ,83 .2% ,and 85 .9% , respectively . T he accuracy of Kwak T I4B was 84 .9% ; T he sensitivity ,specificity ,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of ACR T R4 were 88 .2% ,68 .9% ,62 .9% ,and 90 .8% ,respectively . T he accuracy of ACR T R4 was 76 .2% . T he Kappa value of Kwak TI4B and ACR T R4 was 0 .52 . T he χ2 value of Kwak T I4B and ACR T R4 was 2 174 .6 ( P ＜ 0 .01 ) . Conclusions T he diagnostic values of two T I‐RADS classification methods for thyroid malignant nodules are high . T he overall efficiency of Kwak T I‐RADS classification method is better than that of ACR TI‐RADS classification method .
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Objective To apply the oral gastrointestinal ultrasound contrast agents for evaluating the gastric motility abnor‐mality in the patients with anxiety disorder .Methods Twenty patients with anxiety disorder complicating upper digestive tract symptoms without organic pathological changes were enrolled as the anxiety disorder group .Twenty healthy volunteers were en‐rolled as the control group in this study .The two groups orally took gastrointestinal ultrasound contrast agents .The antral contrac‐tion frequency ,antral contraction amplitude amd MI were measured at each time point .GER was calculated .The the gastric motility parameters in the patients with anxiety disorder were evaluated .Results The antral contraction frequency and MI at initial 2 min had no statistical difference between the anxiety group and the control group .The antral contraction amplitude ,antral contraction frequency amd MI at each time point during 5 -10 min after contrast in the anxiety disorder group were significantly decreased compared with the control group ,and the differences were statistically significant (P< 0 .05) .After 20 min ,GER in the control group was significantly higher than that in the anxiety group ,the difference was statistically significant (P<0 .05) .Conclusion O‐ral gastrointestinal ultrasound contrast agents is a economic ,strongly operable ,non‐invasive and highly repeatable method for evalu‐ating the gastric motility .
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Objective To evaluate the change of left ventricular diastolic function and investigate the relation between left ventricular diastolic function and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without clinical manifestations of heart diseases. Methods Seventy consecutive active RA in-patients without clinical manifestations of heart disease were enrolled, while the control group was recruited from outpatient health physical check-up center and consisted of 60 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. Cardiac related parame-ters were determined by echocardiography and the correlation between left ventricular diastolic function and the disease activity indexes were evaluated. Chi-square test, t test, Pearson or Spearman′s correlation test and Stepwise backward linear regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results RA patients had lower mitral inflow E/A ratio (1.2±0.4, 1.5±0.4, P<0.01), higher E/Em ratio (9.6±3.7, 7.8±2.0, P<0.01), longer isovolumetric relaxation time(IVRT)[(64±16) ms,(58±16) ms, P<0.05] than control group. Whilst, RA patients had higher pulmonary venous inflow A wave velocity-time integral (ArVTI) and A wave duration (DAr)[3.2±0.7,(2.8±0.6) cm; 117±11,(102±9) ms, P<0.05]. Moreover, the E/Em was positively corre-lated with C-reactive protein(CRP)(r=0.581, P<0.01), DAS28(r=0.456, P<0.01). Anti-CCP level was also associated with Em and early diastolic pulmonary venous inflow peak velocity(PVD)(r=-0.359, P<0.05;r=-0.305, P<0.05). In addition, multivariate analysis also revealed that there was linear regression relation-ship between E/Em and CRP, DAS28(t=3.266, P=0.002; t=2.949, P=0.005). Conclusion The study has revealed that left ventricular diastolic function is impaired in RA patients and the left ventricular diastolic function parameters is associated with the disease activity indexes. These results suggest that the decline of left ventricular diastolic function is associated with the inflammation activity in RA patients without clinical manifestations of heart disease.
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Objective To evaluate the mechanical homogeneity pattern of isolated carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima on longitudinal axis view using ultrasonic velocity vector imaging.Methods Fourty six patients with 48 isolated plaques were undergone the high frequency ultrasound scanning,the real-time two-dimensional longitudinal-axis gray scale view at the maximal thickness of the plaque was obtained in three complete cardiac cycles.A dedicated velocity vector imaging(ⅤⅤⅠ)workstation was used for the off-line dynamic two-dimensional gray-scale image analysis and mechanics parameter(i.e.,the peak strain and the absolute difference of the peak strain)assessment at the sites of the upper,middle and down stream separately.The length and direction distribution of the velocity vectors at the carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima were observed.Wilcoxon test was utilized for the comparison of the peak strain and the absolute difference of the peak strain between two sites.Results The chaos phenomenon of velocity vector distribution at the sites of plaque intima occurred significantly differed from those uniform velocity vectors at the reference sites.According to the two groups of the higher strain value side and the lower strain value side on the upper stream and the down stream of the plaque intima,the peak strain at the higher strain value side was significantly higher than the lower strain value side(P=0.000).There was a significantly difference between the absolute difference of peak strain from the higher strain value side to the middle stream point of the plaque intima and the absolute difference of peak strain from the lower strain value side to the higher strain value side of the plaque intima(P＜0.017).Conclusions The length and direction distribution of velocity vectors of the isolated carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima on longitudinal axis view are uneven,the mechanical heterogeneity pattern exists at the plaque intima and could be visualized and quantitatively evaluated using ultrasonic velocity vector imaging.