Comparative analysis of the analgesic effects of intercostal nerve block, ultrasound-guided paravertebral nerve block, and epidural block following single-port thoracoscopic lung surgery.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we compared the analgesic effects of intercostal nerve block (ICNB), ultrasound-guided paravertebral nerve block (PVB), and epidural block (EB) following single-port thoracoscopic lung surgery. METHOD: A total of 120 patients who underwent single-hole thoracoscopic lung surgery were randomly and equally divided into three groups: ICNB group, the PVB group, and the EB group. ICNB was performed under direct thoracoscopic visualization before the conclusion of the surgery in the ICNB group, while PVB and EB were performed after general anesthesia in the PVB and EB groups, respectively. Patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) was used following the surgery in all the groups. The following indicators were recorded: Intraoperative sufentanil dosage, anesthesia awakening time, postoperative intubation time, nerve block operation time, postoperative visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores during resting and coughing at regular intervals of 0, 2, 4, 8, 24, and 48 h, the time until first PCIA, number of effective compressions within 24 h postoperatively, number of rescue analgesia interventions, and the side effects. RESULTS: In comparison to the ICNB group, the PVB and EB groups had a lower intraoperative sufentanil dosage, significantly shorter anesthesia awakening time, and postoperative intubation time, but longer nerve block operation time, lower VAS scores when resting and coughing within 24 h postoperatively (all p-values less than 0.05). Conversely, there were no statistically significant differences in VAS scores during resting and coughing after 24 h (all p-values greater than 0.05). Time to first PCIA, number of effective compressions and number of rescue analgesia at the 24-hour mark postoperatively were significantly better in the PVB and EB groups than that in the ICNB group (P < 0.05). However, there was a higher incidence of side effects observed in the EB group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The analgesic effect of PVB and EB following single-port thoracoscopic lung surgery is better than that of ICNB. PVB causes fewer side effects and complications and is safer and more effective.

Etiologic identification and drug susceptibility analysis of a Citrobacter freundii food poisoning event / 中国热带医学

@#Abstract: Objective　In order to provide reference for emergency treatment of a sudden food poisoning incident, pathogen detection and drug resistance analysis were carried out. Methods　Diarrheal stool and surplus food samples were detected by GB 4789 and the isolates were identified by VITEK2 and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), at the same time, the bacterial drug sensitivity test was carried out by using the method of microbroth dilution, and the isolates from different sources were molecularly classified by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and the correlation between the strains was analyzed by BioNumerics software. Results　Totaly 13 leftovers and 3 diarrhea patients were isolated and identified, The total number of colonies and coliforms in 7 leftovers samples all exceeded the standard, and Citrobacter freundii was detected in 5 leftovers and 2 stools. The results of drug sensitivity test showed that seven strains of Citrobacter freundii were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, amikacin, cefotaxime and meropenem, but completely resistant to ampicillin, and there was no multiple drug resistance. The results of pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed that 7 strains of Citrobacter freundii had the same PFGE bands and 100% homology, showing the same clone. Conclusions　This food poisoning incident was caused by Citrobacter freundii. The pathogen of food poisoning can be quickly and accurately determined by MALDI-TOF MS, which is beneficial to the early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. It is suggested to strengthen the corresponding management, improve food safety awareness and prevent similar incidents.

Infective severe acute pancreatitis: a comparison of 99mTc-ciprofloxacin scintigraphy and computed tomography.

AIM: To evaluate (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin scintigraphy compared with computed tomography (CT) for detecting secondary infections associated with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in swine. METHODS: Six healthy swine were assigned to a normal control group (group A, n = 6). SAP was induced in group B (n = 9) and C (n = 18), followed by inoculation of the resulting pancreatic necroses with inactive Escherichia coli (E. coli) (group B) and active E. coli (group C), respectively. At 7 d after inoculation, a CT scan and a series of analyses using infecton imaging (at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 h after the administration of 370 MBq of intravenous infecton) were performed. The scintigrams were visually evaluated and semi-quantitatively analyzed using region of interest assignments. The differences in infecton uptake and changes in the lesion-background radioactive count ratios (L/B) in the 3 groups were recorded and compared. After imaging detection, histopathology and bacterial examinations were performed, and infected SAP was regarded as positive. The imaging findings were compared with histopathological and bacteriological results. RESULTS: In group A, 6 animals survived without infection in the pancreas. In group B, 7/9 swine survived and one suffered from infection. In group C, 15/18 animals survived with infection. Hence, the number of normal, non-infected and infected SAP swine was 6, 6 and 16, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the infecton method were 93.8% (15/16), 91.7% (11/12), 92.9% (26/28), 93.8% (15/16) and 91.7% (11/12), whereas these values for CT were 12.5% (2/16), 100.0% (12/12), 50.0% (14/28), 100.0% (2/2) and 46.2% (12/26), respectively. The changes in L/B for the infected SAP were significantly different from those of the non-infected and normal swine (P < 0.001). The mean L/B of the infectious foci at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 h was 1.17 ± 0.10, 1.71 ± 0.30, 2.46 ± 0.45, 3.36 ± 0.33, 2.04 ± 0.37 and 1.1988 ± 0.09, respectively. At 3 h, the radioactive counts (2350.25 ± 602.35 k) and the mean L/B of the infectious foci were significantly higher than that at 0.5 h (P = 0.000), 1 h (P = 0.000), 2 h (P = 0.04), 4 h (P = 0.000) and 6 h (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin scintigraphy may be an effective procedure for detecting SAP secondary infections with higher sensitivity and accuracy than CT.

Focal autoimmune pancreatitis: radiological characteristics help to distinguish from pancreatic cancer.

AIM: To identify the radiological characteristics of focal autoimmune pancreatitis (f-AIP) useful for differentiation from pancreatic cancer (PC). METHODS: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and triple-phase computed tomography (CT) scans of 79 patients (19 with f-AIP, 30 with PC, and 30 with a normal pancreas) were evaluated retrospectively. A radiologist measured the CT attenuation of the pancreatic parenchyma, the f-AIP and PC lesions in triple phases. The mean CT attenuation values of the f-AIP lesions were compared with those of PC, and the mean CT attenuation values of pancreatic parenchyma in the three groups were compared. The diagnostic performance of CT attenuation changes from arterial phase to hepatic phase in the differentiation between f-AIP and PC was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We also investigated the incidence of previously reported radiological findings for differentiation between f-AIP and PC. RESULTS: The mean CT attenuation values of f-AIP lesions in enhanced phases were significantly higher than those of PC (arterial phase: 60 ± 7 vs 48 ± 10, P < 0.05; pancreatic phase: 85 ± 6 vs 63 ± 15, P < 0.05; hepatic phase: 95 ± 7 vs 63 ± 13, P < 0.05). The mean CT attenuation values of f-AIP lesions were significantly lower those of uninvolved pancreas and normal pancreas in the arterial and pancreatic phase of CT (P < 0.001, P < 0.001), with no significant difference at the hepatic phase or unenhanced scanning (P = 0.4, P = 0.1). When the attenuation value increase was equal or more than 28 HU this was considered diagnostic for f-AIP, and a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 100% and an area under the ROC curve of 0.974 (95%CI: 0.928-1.021) were achieved. Five findings were more frequently observed in f-AIP patients: (1) sausage-shaped enlargement; (2) delayed homogeneous enhancement; (3) hypoattenuating capsule-like rim; (4) irregular narrowing of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) and/or stricture of the common bile duct (CBD); and (5) MPD upstream dilation ≤ 5 mm. CONCLUSION: Analysis of a combination of CT and MRI findings could improve the diagnostic accuracy of differentiating f-AIP from PC.