Differentiation of Kawasaki Disease From Other Causes of Fever and Cervical Lymphadenopathy: A Diagnostic Scoring System Using Contrast-Enhanced CT.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristic findings of contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) of the neck in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) and to develop a diagnostic scoring system to facilitate the diagnosis of KD versus other causes of fever and cervical lymphadenopathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two blinded radiologists evaluated CECT images of 37 patients with KD and 92 patients without KD who had febrile cervical lymphadenopathy, first independently and then in consensus. Significant findings in CECT images were evaluated through cervical edema and lymph node scores. CT attenuation of the nodal low-attenuation area and its ratio to the CT attenuation of the trapezius muscle were measured. On the basis of these indexes, a diagnostic scoring system was developed to differentiate between patients with and without KD. Its diagnostic performance was determined using ROC curve analysis. RESULTS: Retropharyngeal edema, lateral cervical edema, nasopharyngeal wall edema, level IIA lymphadenopathy, and retropharyngeal lymphadenopathy were more common in patients with KD than in patients without KD (p < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001, 0.003, and 0.028, respectively). Level VB lymphadenopathy was more common in patients without KD (p = 0.013), and the presence of nodal low-attenuation areas with lower attenuation indexes (attenuation of nodal low-attenuation area ≤ 50 HU, or ratio of attenuation of nodal low-attenuation area to trapezius muscle attenuation ≤ 0.7) was specific to patients without KD. In cases of higher attenuation indexes and cervical edema and lymph node scores of 4 or higher, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the diagnostic scoring system were 86% (32/37), 86% (79/92), and 86% (111/129), respectively, for diagnosing KD. CONCLUSION: The proposed diagnostic scoring system was useful in differentiating between patients with and without KD.

Combined measurements of fractional exhaled nitric oxide and nasal nitric oxide levels for assessing upper airway diseases in asthmatic patients.

BACKGROUND: Despite the close linkage between rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and asthma, relevant biomarkers of both upper and lower airway inflammation are rare. METHODS: Patients with asthma (without upper airway disease [UAD; n = 24], with rhinitis [n = 25], CRS [n = 24], and nasal polyps [n = 2]), isolated rhinitis (n = 13), isolated CRS (n = 13), and 10 healthy controls were prospectively recruited. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels at 50 mL/s (FeNO50), nasal NO levels, Lund-Macay-scores of sinus computed tomography and an asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) were evaluated. RESULTS: Asthma was associated with higher FeNO50 levels irrespective of the UAD category. FeNO50 levels were higher in asthmatics with CRS (median: 54.0 ppb) than those with rhinitis (35.2 ppb, p = 0.02) and those without UAD (34.3 ppb, p = 0.002). Nasal NO levels were higher in rhinitis patients than other UAD categories, irrespective of the asthma concomitance. Nasal NO levels were higher in asthmatics with rhinitis (112.8 ppb) than those without UAD (67.2 ppb, p = 0.001) and those with CRS (57.6 ppb, p < 0.0001). A receiver-operating-characteristic curve analysis for detecting comorbid allergic rhinitis (AR) in asthmatics showed a high area under the curve (0.87). Nasal NO levels were positively correlated with FeNO50 levels (ρ = 0.56, p = 0.003) in asthmatics with rhinitis. In contrast, they were negatively correlated with the Lund-Macay (ρ = -0.46, p = 0.03) and ACQ scores (ρ = -0.52, p = 0.009) in asthmatics with CRS. CONCLUSIONS: Higher nasal NO levels reflect the presence of AR, irrespective of asthma concomitance. Higher FeNO50 levels reflect the presence of CRS and asthma. These NO measurements are useful for assessing comorbid UAD in asthmatics.

Serum Periostin as a Biomarker for Comorbid Chronic Rhinosinusitis in Patients with Asthma.

RATIONALE: Periostin is a matricellular protein that is involved in the pathophysiology of allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and asthma. Associations of serum periostin with systemic and airway eosinophilic inflammation and comorbid chronic rhinosinusitis in patients with asthma have been demonstrated. Although serum periostin is positioned as a marker of helper T cell 2 immune responses, its implication regarding the presence of comorbid upper airway diseases in patients with asthma remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the utility of serum periostin as a diagnostic biomarker for upper airway disease in patients with asthma. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 65 patients with stable asthma, 20 without upper airway disease, 22 with rhinitis, and 23 with chronic rhinosinusitis (13 with nasal polyps, 10 without). Serum periostin, eotaxin, total IgE, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, and blood and sputum eosinophil levels were measured and compared between upper airway disease subtypes. We evaluated the utility of each biomarker in detecting upper airway disease, associations among the biomarkers, and severity of upper airway disease as measured by the Lund-Mackay score for sinus computed tomography. RESULTS: Serum periostin levels were higher in patients with asthma who had chronic rhinosinusitis (109.6 ± 47.4 ng/ml) than in those without upper airway disease (83.2 ± 22.9 ng/ml) (P = 0.04). Serum periostin levels in patients with asthma who had chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps were significantly higher (130.0 ± 46.6 ng/ml) than in those without nasal polyps (87.9 ± 37.7 ng/ml) (P = 0.001). Serum periostin levels were not associated with the presence or the severity of rhinitis. In contrast, receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed moderate diagnostic accuracy for detecting chronic rhinosinusitis (area under the curve, 0.71; P = 0.01) and high accuracy for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (area under the curve, 0.86; P = 0.0002). When we compared patients with asthma who had comorbid chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps with patients with asthma without these comorbidities, we found serum periostin to be the sole biomarker among those tested for detecting the presence of nasal polyps. Serum periostin was also the sole biomarker that significantly correlated with Lund-Mackay score in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (r = 0.44; P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Serum periostin is useful for detecting chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and predicting radiological chronic rhinosinusitis severity in patients with asthma. Clinical trial registered with the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000017533).

Diagnostic utility of a computer-aided diagnosis system for whole-body bone scintigraphy to detect bone metastasis in breast cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic ability of planar images (PI) and images obtained by a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system (Viewer for Standardized Bone Scintigraphies; VSBONE) of whole-body bone scintigraphy for detecting bone metastases in breast cancer patients. METHODS: 81 women (median: 56 years; range: 32-79) with a history of breast cancer were included in this study. They underwent whole-body bone scintigraphy after intravenous injection of 740 MBq technetium-99m hydroxymethylene diphosphonate. A total of 1066 bones (162 regions of the skull, 657 regions of the spine and pelvis, 223 regions of the sternum and rib, 18 regions of the upper extremities, and 6 regions of the lower extremities) were analyzed. The PI alone, VSBONE images alone, and both PI and VSBONE images (PI + VSBONE) were interpreted independently by two radiologists to diagnose bone metastases, which were then confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. The sensitivity and specificity for each modality were analyzed using Fisher's exact and McNemar tests. Inter-reviewer agreement was evaluated using a kappa statistic. RESULTS: Bone metastases were confirmed in 43 patients with 442 positive lesions. The average sensitivity of PI, VSBONE images, and PI + VSBONE images was 40.8, 50.2, and 61.8 %, respectively. The average specificity was 97.8, 97.5, and 97.6 %, respectively. The kappa scores were 0.62 for PI, 0.69 for VSBONE, and 0.77 for PI + VSBONE. CONCLUSIONS: VSBONE was superior to PI in regard to sensitivity for detecting bone metastases in breast cancer patients. However, an improved CAD system is required to decrease the number of false-negative results.

The variations of the middle colic vein tributaries: depiction by three-dimensional CT angiography.

OBJECTIVE: Laparoscopic transverse colectomy is challenging owing to technical difficulties in identifying an adequate dissection plane, ligating and dissecting lymph nodes around the middle colic vessels. One of the reasons for the technical difficulties is the complex relationship between the middle colic vein (MCV) and its tributary. So, defining the venous anatomy around the MCV before laparoscopic surgery seems important to avoid massive bleeding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the depiction rate and variation of the MCV and its tributaries on three-dimensional CT angiography (3DCTA). METHODS: This study included 331 patients (203 males and 128 females) scheduled for laparoscopic surgery between June 2010 and April 2012. Most of the patients had gastric or colorectal cancer. Patients who needed emergency surgeries for obstruction or perforation were excluded. 3DCTA with an i.v. contrast medium was performed immediately following the administration of effervescent granules or room air insufflation. We assessed variations of the MCV tributaries using transaxial, multiplanar reconstructed images and volume-rendering images. RESULTS: The MCV could be identified in all patients. The MCVs drained into the superior mesenteric vein in 62.5% of patients, gastrocolic trunk of Henle in 29.3% of patients, inferior mesenteric vein in 4.8% of patients, splenic vein in 2.7% of patients and jejunal vein in 0.6% of patients. CONCLUSION: 3DCTA is useful in evaluating the anatomic variants of the MCV in pre-operative planning for laparoscopic surgery. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Use of 3DCTA for the recognition of the anatomic complexity around the MCV and its tributary plays an important role in pre-operative planning for optimal patient outcome.