ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To observe the time-effect of stimulation of the embedded poly glycolide-co-lactide (PGLA) suture in Sanyinjiao (SP6) area in normal human body, so as to provide an experimental evidence for clinical application of micro-invasion suture-embedding at an appropriate interval. METHODS: A total of 8 healthy volunteer students (3 boys and 5 girls, ranging in age from 24 to 27 years) were recruited in the present study. A piece of sterilized PGLA suture was implanted into the left SP6 using minimally invasive surgery after strict local skin disinfection. The fat-suppression T2 weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI, displaying local lesion after eliminating interference of fat tissue signals), and T2 mapping 8-echo train images were acquired before and 8 h, 3, 7, 10 and 14 days after PGLA suture embedment by using a MR imaging system. After transformation of the T2-mapping 8-echo train images into T2-mapping images by using a relevant software, the T2 values (meaning the relaxation time of the local muscle) of the left SP6 were measured, followed by analysis of the signal intensity of T2 weighted fat-suppression images and T2 values at different time-points. RESULTS: Before the suture embedding, no abnormal signals were found in the signal intensity of T2 weighted fat-suppression images. After PGLA suture embedment, the local signal intensity of T2WI fat-suppression images was relatively increased at the 8th h, and on day 3, 7, 10 and 14 relevant to pre-embedment, but gradually atte-nuated on day 10 and 14. The T2 values were significantly increased at the 5 time-points of post-embedment (all P0.05), and being markedly lowered on day 14 relevant to day 7 (P<0.01) in spite of being still markedly higher than that of pre-embedding (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The signal intensity of T2 weighted fat-suppression images and T2 values acquired from PGLA-suture-embedded SP6 acupoint area in healthy subjects may keep at least for 2 weeks, suggesting that the stimulating reaction of suture-embedment persists more than 14 days. Hence, when a micro-invasion embedding with PGLA suture performed, the interval of two weeks would be appropriate.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate short-term and long-term efficacy of PGLA thread-embedding therapy in the treatment of stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome were randomly divided into control group and treatment group, with 30 patients in each group. The patients in the control group were given acupuncture combined with rehabilitation training, and those in the treatment group were given PGLA thread-embedding therapy combined with rehabilitation training. Conventional acupuncture was performed once a day, and thread-embedding therapy was performed once every 5 days. Both groups were treated for 30 days. Clinical outcome, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, hand edema score, and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score were compared within and between groups immediately and at 1 month after treatment. RESULTS: The treatment group had a significantly higher overall response rate than the control group immediately and at 1 month after treatment (93.33%/86.67% vs 73.33%/56.67%, P<0.05). Both groups had significant reductions in VAS score and hand edema score and a significant increase in FMA score immediately and at 1 month after treatment (P<0.05), and the treatment group had significantly greater improvements than the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: PGLA thread-embedding therapy has a better clinical effect than conventional acupuncture in the treatment of stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To explore the objectivity and time-effect of stimulating effect at acupoint with PGLA in the healthy person, and to provide a basis for the rational interval of minimally invasive embedding of PGLA.@*METHODS@#Before embedding, 8 h, 3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th day after embedding, medical imaging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning technique was used to collect local T2WI pressure-lowering and T2-Mapping 8 echoes sequence image of left Zusanli (ST 36) in 8 cases of healthy person. The T2-Mapping 8 echoes sequence image was generated by the relevant software to the T2-Mapping image and the local T2 value was measured. The characteristics of local T2WI pressure-fat image signal intensity and the change of T2 value at left Zusanli (ST 36) with minimally invasive embedding with PGLA were observed and analyzed.@*RESULTS@#①There was no abnormal signal on the T2WI pressure-fat image on the left Zusanli (ST 36) point before the embedding. The high-signal was seen on the local T2WI pressure-fat image at each time point after embedding, there was no significant difference in local signal intensity between 8 h, 3rd and 7th day after embedding. The local signal intensity decreased on the 10th day after embedding, and the local signal intensity decreased significantly on the 14th day after embedding.②The T2 value at each time point after embedding increased significantly compared with that before embedding (all 0.05); there was no significant difference between the T2 value on the 7th and the 10th day after embedding (>0.05)，the T2 value on the 14th day after embedding was significantly lower than that on the 7th day after embedding (<0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#It has a stimulating effect on the local acupoints with minimally invasive embedding with PGLA in the healthy person, and the stimulating effect has certain time-effect. The effective stimulation time is about 2 weeks. The rational interval period for the minimally invasive embedding with the PGLA of the same specification type should be about 2 weeks.
Subject(s)
Acupuncture Points , Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides , Magnetic Resonance ImagingABSTRACT
PURPOSE: A coated coil system, covered with a bioabsorbable polymeric material (polyglycolic acid/lactide copolymer, PGLA), was developed to accelerate intra-aneurysmal clot organization and fibrosis, and thereby to reduce aneurysm recanalization. As a continuation of a previously published study that included analysis of short-term outcomes of endosaccular coil embolization of intracranial saccular aneurysm within 6 months, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the mid-term results of PGLA-coated coils in patients with intracranial aneurysms and to compare results with those of bare platinum coils. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-one patients harboring 56 intracranial aneurysms underwent endovascular embolization with PGLA-coated coils. The control group included 78 consecutive patients, harboring 87 aneurysms, who underwent coil embolization with bare platinum coils. The authors compared mid-term follow-up results in these two groups retrospectively. RESULTS: The median follow-up interval for radiologic evaluation was 12 months (range 5 to 18 months) and 14 months (range 6 to 30 months) in the PGLA-coil group and the bare-coil group, respectively. Major aneurysm recanalization occurred in 9 of 43 aneurysms (20.9%) in the PGLA-coil group and in 13 of 64 aneurysms (20%) in the bare-coil group. Notably, the rate of major recanalization (46.2%) in the PGLA coil group with a packing density of <25% was significantly higher than that of the bare coil group (17.8%). CONCLUSION: In spite of a similar incidence of recanalization between the PGLA-coated coil and bare platinum coil groups, the major recanalization rate of this group was significantly higher than that of the bare coil group, if packing density of more than 25% was not achieved using PGLA-coated coils. So we can conclude that dense packing is more likely to have an effect on treatment result rather than does biological effect of PGLA in case of endosaccular coil embolization using PGLA-coated coils.