ABSTRACT
Objective To analysis the correlation between the vulnerability of carotid plaque and ischemic stroke and to explore the clinical significance of assessing vulnerable plaques accurately.Methods A total of 64 patients,who underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from October 2014 to February 2016,were classified into ischemic and non-ischemic stroke group according to whether ischemic stroke symptoms occurred during the last 6 months before surgery.To judge the stable and vulnerable plaques,the patients underwent carotid doppler ultrasonography (CDU) before surgery,and the carotid plaques were evaluated with HE staining after CEA.We also analyzed the risk factors of plaque formation and the relevance between the plaque characteristic and ischemic stroke with chi-square test.Kappa test were used to analyze the consistency of CDU and pathology.Results Of the 44 cases in ischemic stroke group,CDU identified 81.8％ (36/44) vulnerable plaques and 18.2％ (8/44) stable plaques,while pathology confirmed 86.4％ (38/44) vulnerable plaques and 13.6％ (6/44) stable plaques.Of the 20 cases in non-ischemic stroke group,CDU identified 35％ (7/20) vulnerable plaques and 65％ (13/20) stable plaques,while pathology confirmed 40％ (8/20) vulnerable plaques and 60％ (12/20) stable plaques.In both CDU and pathology,vulnerable plaques in ischemic stroke group were obviously higher than that in non-ischemia group (x2=13.67,P ＜ 0.001;x2=14.62,P ＜ 0.001).The results of CDU agreed well to that of pathology results (Kappa=0.669,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The vulnerability of plaques were closely related to the ischemic stroke.CDU is a reliable examination method to identify vulnerable plaques.The accurate assessment of vulnerability of plaques has a great significance in preventing ischemic stroke.
ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the efficacy of No. 1 Baiban granules in the treatment of vitiligo using skin confocal laser scanning microscopy. Methods The study was approved by the hospital ethics committee. Nine-two patients with qi stagnation and blood stasis were collected from Department of Dermatology of the Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and were randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group (n=49) received oral Baiban granuleΙ, 3 g, twice a day, transfer factor capsules 6 mg, 3 times a day, 0.1%mometasone furoate cream (excluding the face) for external use, once a day, or 0.1%tacrolimus ointment (Afacial), twice a day for 3 months. The control group (n=43) only received oral transfer factor capsules 6 mg, 3 times a day, 0.1%mometasone furoate cream (except for the face) for external use, once a day, or 0.1%tacrolimus ointment (face), twice a day, treatment for 3 months. The therapeutic effect was observed in two groups. CLSM was used to monitor the compound color and pigment recovery level, and changes of the number of dendritic cells and inflammatory cell infiltration in skin. Results The compound color was improved significantly after treatment in experimental group and control group. The total effective rate was higher in experimental group than that of control group (81.63% vs. 69.77%,χ2=3.947,P<0.05). Results of CLSM observation showed that the pigment recovery of skin lesion, the proportion of dendritic cells and inflammatory cells were significantly higher in experimental group than those of control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion The treatment effect of No. 1 Baiban granules is more obvious for vitiligo of qi stagnation and blood stasis.