Impact of thyroid autoimmunity on pregnancy outcomes in euthyroid women following fresh/frozen-thawed embryo transfer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) is associated with assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes in euthyroid women undergoing fresh embryo transfer (ET) and frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. Pregnancy and neonatal outcome after fresh ET or FET were compared between the positive and negative thyroid autoimmune antibody groups. PATIENTS: A total of 5439 euthyroid women who started their ART cycle at our centre between 2015 and 2019 were included. RESULTS: The thyroid antibody positive group had a greater mean age than the thyroid antibody negative group (32(29,35) vs. 31(28,34), p < .001). Women with positive thyroid antibody presented with a higher prevalence of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) (9.1% vs. 7.1%, p = .026) and lower number of oocyte retrieved (9(5,15) vs. 10(6,15), p = .020), but difference was not significant after adjusting for age. The pregnancy rate, live birth rate, pregnancy loss rate, preterm delivery rate and low birthweight rate between the thyroid antibody positive and thyroid antibody negative groups were comparable both in fresh ET cycles and FET cycles. Subanalysis of the treatment outcomes when using a stricter threshold of TSH of 2.5 mIU/L showed no difference to that achieved when using an upper limit of 4.78 mIU/L. CONCLUSIONS: The present study reveals that patients with anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs) and/or antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAbs) showed no significant differences in pregnancy outcomes following fresh ET and FET when compared with patients with negative thyroid antibodies.

Controlled ovarian stimulation for endometriosis patients with ultra-long GnRH-agonist or GnRH-antagonist protocols: A retrospective study by propensity score matching.

OBJECTIVES: Although in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer is the most effective treatment for infertile patients with endometriosis, ovarian stimulation protocols are controversial. STUDY DESIGN: We recruited 639 patients with endometriosis from January 2016 to June 2020; 111 and 528 patients were treated with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist and ultra-long GnRH agonist protocols, respectively. Potential baseline differences between the regimens were adjusted by propensity score matching. Clinical and laboratory data, including the cumulative clinical pregnancy rate (CCPR) and cumulative live birth rate (CLBR), were compared. RESULTS: Ovulation induction required significantly longer use of gonadotropins in the GnRH agonist group. However, the GnRH agonist group had a lower starting dose of gonadotropin (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, significantly lower clinical pregnancy, implantation, and live birth rates were observed in the GnRH antagonist group receiving fresh assisted reproductive technology cycles (all p < 0.05); however, pregnancy outcomes using the subsequent freeze-thaw cycles for the same oocyte retrieval were not significantly different. CCPR and CLBR for the oocyte retrieval cycles of the antagonist and ultra-long agonist protocols were similar. The ultra-long agonist protocol resulted in more favorable implantation of fresh embryos and improved clinical outcomes of the fresh cycle. CONCLUSIONS: This novel strategy could be appropriate for endometriosis patients who are temporarily unsuitable for fresh embryo transfer. The GnRH antagonist protocol can be combined with the whole embryo freezing strategy to achieve CCPR and CLBR similar to the ultra-long agonist regimen, thus simultaneously avoiding the long pre-treatment duration of GnRH agonists during the ultra-long agonist protocol.

Micro-Raman Analysis of Sperm Cells on Glass Slide: Potential Label-Free Assessment of Sperm DNA toward Clinical Applications.

Routine assessment of sperm DNA integrity involves the time-consuming and complex process of staining sperm chromatin. Here, we report a Raman spectroscopy method combined with extended multiplicative signal correction (EMSC) for the extraction of characteristic fingerprints of DNA-intact and DNA-damaged sperm cells directly on glass slides. Raman results of sperm cell DNA integrity on glass substrates were validated one-to-one with clinical sperm cell staining. Although the overall Raman spectral pattern showed considerable similarity between DNA-damaged and DNA-intact sperm cells, differences in specific Raman spectral responses were observed. We then employed and compared multivariate statistical analysis based on principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) and partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and the classifications were validated by leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV) and k-fold cross-validation methods. In comparison, the PLS-DA model showed relatively better results in terms of diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and the classification rate between the sperm DNA damaged group and the DNA intact group. Our results demonstrate the potential of Raman based label-free DNA assessment of sperm cell on glass substrates as a simple method toward clinical applications.

Emerging Bioactive Agent Delivery-Based Regenerative Therapies for Lower Genitourinary Tissues.

Injury to lower genitourinary (GU) tissues, which may result in either infertility and/or organ dysfunctions, threatens the overall health of humans. Bioactive agent-based regenerative therapy is a promising therapeutic method. However, strategies for spatiotemporal delivery of bioactive agents with optimal stability, activity, and tunable delivery for effective sustained disease management are still in need and present challenges. In this review, we present the advancements of the pivotal components in delivery systems, including biomedical innovations, system fabrication methods, and loading strategies, which may improve the performance of delivery systems for better regenerative effects. We also review the most recent developments in the application of these technologies, and the potential for delivery-based regenerative therapies to treat lower GU injuries. Recent progress suggests that the use of advanced strategies have not only made it possible to develop better and more diverse functionalities, but also more precise, and smarter bioactive agent delivery systems for regenerative therapy. Their application in lower GU injury treatment has achieved certain effects in both patients with lower genitourinary injuries and/or in model animals. The continuous evolution of biomaterials and therapeutic agents, advances in three-dimensional printing, as well as emerging techniques all show a promising future for the treatment of lower GU-related disorders and dysfunctions.

Macroporous perovskite nanocrystal composites for ultrasensitive copper ion detection.

Accumulation of heavy metal ions, including copper ions (Cu2+), presents a serious threat to human health and to the environment. A substantial amount of research has focused on detecting such species in aqueous solutions. However, progress towards ultrasensitive and easy-to-use sensors for non-aqueous solutions is still limited. Here, we focus on the detection of copper species in hexane, realising ultra-sensitive detection through a fluorescence-based approach. To achieve this, a novel macroporous composite material has been developed featuring luminescent CsPbBr3 nanocrystals (NCs) chemically adhered to a polymerized high internal phase emulsion (polyHIPE) substrate through surface thiol groups. Due to this thiol functionality, sub-monolayer NC formation is realised, which also renders outstanding stability of the composite in the ambient environment. Copper detection is achieved through a direct solution based immersion of the CsPbBr3-(SH)polyHIPE composite, which results in concentration-dependent quenching of the NC photoluminescence. This newly developed sensor has a limit of detection (LOD) for copper as low as 1 × 10-16 M, and a wide operating window spanning 10-2 to 10-16 M. Moreover, the composite exhibits excellent selectivity among different transition metals.

Tripronuclear Zygotes in IVF Laboratory Quality Control: Experimental Evaluation and Potential Applications.

This study set out to evaluate quality control within a new in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory environment and of new incubators based on the culture results of tripronuclear zygotes. The representative environmental indicators within new and old IVF laboratories were monitored, and tripronuclear zygotes were cultured in the two laboratories; the results were analyzed and compared. Subsequently, tripronuclear (3PN) zygotes were cultured in both new and old incubators and the culture results were compared. No differences were found in embryo development between 3PN zygotes in the old and new laboratories. However, in the quality control test, the degeneration rate and developmental arrest rate in the new incubator early phase group were significantly increased when compared with the old incubators. Moreover, the grade I embryo rate also decreased significantly. Nevertheless, all the above comparisons in the new incubator later phase group showed no statistical significance as compared to those observed in old incubators. Tripronuclear zygotes are sensitive to the environment in IVF laboratories and can be considered useful during quality control trials of new IVF laboratories and new equipment including incubators.

The vitrification system may affect preterm and cesarean delivery rates after single vitrified blastocyst transfer.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effects of different vitrification systems on single vitrified blastocyst transfer cycles. The clinical and birth outcomes of 412 patients who underwent single vitrified blastocyst transfer between January 2018 and June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed and compared between patients who underwent blastocyst vitrification with kit A (group A, 196 patients) and those who underwent blastocyst vitrification with kit B (group B, 216 patients). Clinical outcomes, including the clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, early miscarriage rate, late miscarriage rate, ectopic pregnancy rate, twin pregnancy rate, and induced labor rate due to fetal malformation, were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). The preterm delivery rate among singleton newborns (11.57% vs. 3.23%, P < 0.05) and the cesarean delivery rate were significantly higher in group B than in group A (70.25% vs. 57.26%, P < 0.05). Birth outcomes, including the male-to-female ratio, low-birth-weight rate, macrosomia rate, birth defect rate, newborn gestational age, neonatal body weight, and singleton neonatal body length, were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Our findings suggest that different vitrification systems might differentially affect birth outcomes. Such disparity could reflect differences in kit composition and/or protocol.ABBREVIATIONS: DMSO: dimethyl sulfoxide; ES: equilibration solution; VS: vitrification solution; BMI: body mass index; ICSI: intracytoplasmic sperm injection; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval.

Membranous Extracellular Matrix-Based Scaffolds for Skin Wound Healing.

Membranous extracellular matrix (ECM)-based scaffolds are one of the most promising biomaterials for skin wound healing, some of which, such as acellular dermal matrix, small intestinal submucosa, and amniotic membrane, have been clinically applied to treat chronic wounds with acceptable outcomes. Nevertheless, the wide clinical applications are always hindered by the poor mechanical properties, the uncontrollable degradation, and other factors after implantation. To highlight the feasible strategies to overcome the limitations, in this review, we first outline the current clinical use of traditional membranous ECM scaffolds for skin wound healing and briefly introduce the possible repair mechanisms; then, we discuss their potential limitations and further summarize recent advances in the scaffold modification and fabrication technologies that have been applied to engineer new ECM-based membranes. With the development of scaffold modification approaches, nanotechnology and material manufacturing techniques, various types of advanced ECM-based membranes have been reported in the literature. Importantly, they possess much better properties for skin wound healing, and would become promising candidates for future clinical translation.

Identification of Three Potential circRNA Biomarkers of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by Bioinformatics Analysis and Validation.

OBJECTIVE: It is well known that circRNAs are closely involved in the progression of various diseases. However, their functions and potential regulatory mechanisms in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) remain largely unknown. In the present study, our aim was to investigate the potential diagnostic value of circRNAs in PCOS. METHODS: The circRNA dataset GSE145296, mRNA dataset GSE155489 and miRNA GSE138572 were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Based on the potential interactions, a network of cirRNA-related competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) was constructed. Biological functions were predicted by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. For further validation, qRT-PCR method was used to detect the expression level of the candidate circRNAs. Then, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were constructed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the three differentially expressed circRNA (DE-circRNA). RESULTS: We constructed a network of cirRNA-related ceRNA network. Hsa_circ_0075691, hsa_circ_0075692 and hsa_circ_0085997 were validate to be dysregulated in PCOS. CONCLUSION: Hsa_circ_0075691, hsa_circ_0075692 and hsa_circ_0085997 may be potential diagnostic biomarkers of PCOS, but their specific regulatory mechanisms still need to be further studied.

Explore the potential molecular mechanism of polycystic ovarian syndrome by protein-protein interaction network analysis.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders prevailing in reproductive age women, present in 3-15% population of women worldwide. Although there are many studies on PCOS, its underlying mechanism remains to be determined. The present study was to construct protein-protein interaction networks based on the potential disease-causing genes for PCOS and characterize the underlying molecular mechanisms of PCOS using the networks. PCOS-associated genes were extracted from DisGeNet and the protein-protein interaction networks (PPIN) of PCOS were constructed using the String Database. Then we utilized MCODE algorithm to analyse the hub-gene modules from the PPIN. Finally, the major biological functions and signaling pathways involved in the hub modules were explored by functional enrichment analysis. A total of 522 candidate genes associated to PCOS were extracted from DisGeNET database. The PPIN constructed using the genes we have collected above included 488 genes and 2767 interaction relationships. Moreover, seven major gene modules were obtained after analyzing the PPIN with the use of MCODE plug-in. The major modules generated were enriched in certain biological functions such as cancer and cell proliferation and apoptosis, regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism, cell cycle and so on. The integrated analysis performed in the current study revealed that these hub modules and their related genes are closely associated to the pathogenesis of PCOS, which may probably provide novel insights for the treatment of PCOS and the study of its latent pathogenic mechanism. The relationship between several of the key genes including ALB, TOP2A, PTGER3, NPB and BRD2 in the modules and PCOS has not been investigated previously and it remains to be verified by further research of large sample, multi-center and multi-ethnic.

Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Human Blastocyst: A Novel Biomarker for the Prediction of Implantation Potential.

The relationship between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and the outcome of embryo transfer is under debate. Our aim was to explore the relationship between mtDNA copy number in human blastocysts and embryonic development to determine whether mtDNA represents a novel biomarker for the prediction of implantation potential. A total of 246 blastocysts were analyzed by next-generation sequencing. There was no correlation between mtDNA copy number and maternal age in all blastocyst groups and euploid blastocyst groups. Additionally, the mtDNA copy number was not significantly higher in aneuploid blastocysts. Subsequently, no relationship was observed between mtDNA copy number and blastocyst quality. The assessment of clinical pregnancy outcome after the transfer of euploid blastocysts to the uterus indicated that the mtDNA copy number was significantly lower in the clinical pregnancy group than in those who failed implantation. The cut-off value of mtDNA copy number was 320.5, which was a highly predictive value. Blastocysts with an increased mtDNA copy number had lower implantation potential, and mtDNA copy number was largely equal in terms of maternal age, chromosome ploidy, and quality of blastocysts.

Clinical Review of Noninvasive Prenatal Testing: Experience from 551 Pregnancies with Noninvasive Prenatal Testing-Positive Results in a Tertiary Referral Center.

A total of 551 pregnancies with positive results for noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) using traditional karyotyping and chromosomal microarray analysis were analyzed. Confirmatory results, positive predictive values, etiology exploration of false-positive results, and pregnancy outcomes were recorded. The study demonstrated that NIPT performed better in predicting trisomy 21 and trisomy 18 for pregnancies with advanced maternal age than for pregnancies with young maternal age; as for trisomy 13 and sex chromosomal aneuploidy (SCA) prediction, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The positive predictive values for trisomy 21, trisomy 18, trisomy 13, and SCA showed no significant upward trend when compared based on specific age categories (an interval of 5 years), which suggested that NIPT-positive result deserves equal attention from both providers and patients regardless of maternal age. In addition, the termination rates of 45,X, 47,XXY, 47,XXX, and 47,XYY were 100% (2/2), 92.9% (26/28), 33.3% (5/15), and 9.5% (2/21), respectively, which demonstrated that the decision-making regarding pregnancies varied greatly according to the types of SCAs, and further reinforce the importance of confirmatory prenatal diagnosis. The current study also supported the viewpoint that confined placental mosaicism and maternal mosaicism were the important etiology of false-positive results.

Skin-Like Stretchable Fuel Cell Based on Gold-Nanowire-Impregnated Porous Polymer Scaffolds.

Skin-like energy devices can be conformally attached to the human body, which are highly desirable to power soft wearable electronics in the future. Here, a skin-like stretchable fuel cell based on ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) and polymerized high internal phase emulsions (polyHIPEs) scaffolds is demonstrated. The polyHIPEs can offer a high porosity of 80% yet with an overall thickness comparable to human skin. Upon impregnation with electronic inks containing ultrathin (2 nm in diameter) and ultrahigh aspect-ratio (>10 000) gold nanowires, skin-like strain-insensitive stretchable electrodes are successfully fabricated. With such designed strain-insensitive electrodes, a stretchable fuel cell is fabricated by using AuNWs@polyHIPEs, platinum (Pt)-modified AuNWs@polyHIPEs, and ethanol as the anode, cathode, and fuel, respectively. The resulting epidermal fuel cell can be patterned and transferred onto skin as "tattoos" yet can offer a high power density of 280 µW cm-2 and a high durability (>90% performance retention under stretching, compression, and twisting). The results presented here demonstrate that this skin-thin, porous, yet stretchable electrode is essentially multifunctional, simultaneously serving as a current collector, an electrocatalyst, and a fuel host, indicating potential applications to power future soft wearable 2.0 electronics for remote healthcare and soft robotics.

Factors affecting pregnancy outcomes following the surgical removal of intrauterine adhesions and subsequent in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

This study aimed to investigate the clinical factors affecting pregnancy rates following the surgical removal of intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) and subsequent in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). We retrospectively evaluated case data from patients who had undergone hysteroscopic surgery to remove varying degrees of IUAs and who had subsequently received assisted reproductive treatments with IVF-ET (in all 140 cycles) at our hospital between January, 2011 and January, 2015. The patient data were divided into either the pregnancy or non-pregnancy groups based on the pregnancy outcomes, and a number of clinicopathological variables were compared these two groups, such as age, infertility (type and duration), the number of prior surgical treatments for and severity of IUAs, the baseline follicle-stimulating hormone/luteinizing hormone (FSH/LH) ratio and estradiol level, endometrial thickness on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration, etc. We selected the variables with statistically significant differences to generate multivariate logistic regression and linear correlation analyses. We found that i) the mean endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration was greater in the pregnancy group, and that the average gestational age was younger than that in the non-pregnancy group. The different age groups had significantly different pregnancy rates. The mean baseline FSH/LH ratio of the women in the pregnancy group was lower than that in the women in the non-pregnancy group. The number of embryos transferred in the pregnancy group was higher than that in the non-pregnancy group. However, the other variables exhibited similar values between these two groups. ii) Our multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that age and endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration had significant effects on the pregnancy outcome. The baseline FSH/LH ratio and the number of embryos transferred were similar between the groups. On the whole, age and endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration are the most important predictors of pregnancy outcome in the patients undergoing IVF-ET following the surgical removal of IUAs. Importantly however, the identification of effective methods with which to improve the endometrial thickness and the ovarian response in patients with diminished ovarian reserves warrants further investigation in future research.

Waist Circumference Coupled with Either HDL-C or TG Can Be Used as a Diagnostic Marker for Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Although quite a few polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients suffering from metabolic syndrome (MS) have been reported in previous studies, no reliable and early diagnostic biomarkers for MS in PCOS patients have yet been identified. To identify early and reliable diagnostic biomarkers for MS in Chinese women with PCOS, a total of 401 patients (200 PCOS patients and 201 controls) were enrolled in our present study. All of the subjects were examined for anthropometric (weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, etc.) and biochemical (fasting glucose, serum lipid indices, total testosterone, etc.) parameters. Our results showed that the prevalence of MS in the PCOS patients (20.50%) was 6.8-fold higher (P < 0.05) than that in the controls (2.99%). Nearly 71.0% of the PCOS patients had at least one component of MS, of which dyslipidemia was the most prevalent. Furthermore, within the PCOS group, the prevalence of MS increased with increasing age and body mass index (BMI). Logistic analysis indicated that BMI, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hypertension, and fasting glucose were significantly associated with the presence of MS in PCOS patients. Analysis of the ability of the potential diagnostic biomarkers to indicate MS in PCOS patients showed that the PPV, NPV, specificity, sensitivity, and Youden's index for waist circumference (WC) coupled with HDL-C were 59.68%, 97.10%, 84.28%, 90.24%, and 74.52, respectively, and those for WC coupled with TG were 93.33%, 92.35%, 98.74%, 68.29%, and 67.03%, respectively. ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) for WC coupled with HDL-C and for WC coupled with TG were 0.882 and 0.901, respectively. Our present study demonstrates that WC coupled with either HDL-C or TG can be used as a relatively early and reliable diagnostic biomarker for MS in Chinese PCOS patients.

[Studies of Male Fertility with Raman Spectroscopy].

Raman spectroscopy which belongs to scattering spectroscopy obtained molecular vibrational and rotational information to achieve detection and analysis of molecular structure and corresponding changes through recording the frequency shift when light interacted with materials. Compared with routine biochemical analysis, Raman spectroscopy has the advantage of non-invasive, label-free and no sample requirement. Raman spectroscopy has been widely applied in biomedical field such as human tissue, organs, cells and human body fluids for disease diagnosis. This article mainly focuses on recent research advances of Raman spectroscopy in human semen. Firstly, Raman spectroscopy(including surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, SERS) employed in forensic science for semen analysis, and some related data processing methods were introduced, then Raman spectroscopy involved investigations of male fertility was highlighted, more specifically, the Raman-based qualitative and quantitative analysis which assist the objective detection and evaluation of male fertility. Furthermore, studies of single sperm cell based on micro-Raman system to characterize and evaluate sperm quality and the preliminarily obtained Raman biomarkers which indicate high-quality sperm cell were introduced. Finally, the potential development of Raman spectroscopy involved in reproduction and fertility field was also discussed.

Rapid and nondestructive method for evaluation of embryo culture media using drop coating deposition Raman spectroscopy.

In this study, a rapid and simple method which combines drop coating deposition and Raman spectroscopy (DCDR) was developed to characterize the dry embryo culture media (ECM) droplet. We demonstrated that Raman spectra obtained from the droplet edge presented useful and characteristic signatures for protein and amino acids assessment. Using a different analytical method, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, we further confirmed that Na, K, and Cl were mainly detected in the central area of the dry ECM droplet while sulphur, an indicative of the presence of macromolecules such as proteins, was mainly found at the periphery of the droplet. In addition, to reduce sample preparation time, different temperatures for drying the droplets were tested. The results showed that drying temperature at 50°C can effectively reduce the sample preparation time to 6 min (as compared to 50 min for drying at room temperature, ∼25°C) without inducing thermal damage to the proteins. This work demonstrated that DCDR has potential for rapid and reliable metabolomic profiling of ECM in clinical applications.

Induction of human keratinocytes into enamel-secreting ameloblasts.

Mammalian tooth development relies heavily on the reciprocal and sequential interactions between cranial neural crest-derived mesenchymal cells and stomadial epithelium. During mouse tooth development, odontogenic potential, that is, the capability to direct an adjacent tissue to form a tooth, resides in dental epithelium initially, and shifts subsequently to dental mesenchyme. Recent studies have shown that mouse embryonic dental epithelium possessing odontogenic potential is able to induce the formation of a bioengineered tooth crown when confronted with postnatal mesenchymal stem cells of various sources. Despite many attempts, however, postnatal stem cells have not been used successfully as the epithelial component in the generation of a bioengineered tooth. We show here that epithelial sheets of cultured human keratinocytes, when recombined with mouse embryonic dental mesenchyme, are able to support tooth formation. Most significantly, human keratinocytes, recombined with mouse embryonic dental mesenchyme in the presence of exogenous FGF8, are induced to express the dental epithelial marker PITX2 and differentiate into enamel-secreting ameloblasts that develop a human-mouse chimeric whole tooth crown. We conclude that in the presence of appropriate odontogenic signals, human keratinocytes can be induced to become odontogenic competent; and that these are capable of participating in tooth crown morphogenesis and differentiating into ameloblasts. Our studies identify human keratinocytes as a potential cell source for in vitro generation of bioengineered teeth that may be used in replacement therapy.

[Diagnosis and treatment of cystic acoustic neuroma].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical features and treatment of cystic acoustic neuroma. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with cystic acoustic neuromas were diagnosed by CT and MRI preoperatively, and the tumors were resected by retrosigmoid approach, and verified by pathological studies. RESULTS: Of the 22 patients, 18 had tumors totally resected (postoperative house Brackman facial nerve grading: grade II in 4 patients, III in 7, IV in 3, V in 2, VI in 2) and 4 had tumors subtotally resected. CONCLUSION: Because of its specific clinical features and poor operative results, cystic acoustic neuroma should be regarded as a specific subtype.