Different phylotypes of Cutibacterium acnes cause different modic changes in intervertebral disc degeneration.

BACKGROUND: The contribution of Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) infection to intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) and the antibiotic therapy has evoked several controversies in recent years. While some microbiology studies report bacterial disc infection within IDD patients, others attribute the positive results to contamination during prolonged cultures. In addition to the clinical controversy, little was known about the mechanism of C. acnes-caused Modic changes (MCs) if C. acnes was the pathogenic factor. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the inflammatory mechanism of MCs induced by different phylotypes of C. acnes in patients with IDD. METHODS: Specimens from sixty patients undergoing microdiscectomy for disc herniation were included, C. acnes were identified by anaerobic culture, followed by biochemical and PCR-based methods. The identified species of C. acnes were respectively inoculated into the intervertebral discs of rabbits. MRI and histological change were observed. Additionally, we detected MMP expression in the rabbit model using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). RESULTS: Of the 60 cases, 18 (30%) specimens were positive for C. acnes, and we identified 4 of 6 defined phylogroups: IA, IB, II and III. The rabbits that received Type IB or II strains of C. acnes showed significantly decreased T1WI and higher T2WI at eighth weeks, while strain III C. acnes resulted in hypointense signals on both T1WI and T2WI. Histological examination results showed that all of the three types of C. acnes could cause disc degeneration and endplates rupture. Moreover, endplate degeneration induced by type IB or II strains of C. acnes is related with MMP13 expression. Meanwhile, strain III C. acnes might upregulated the level of MMP3. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that C. acnes is widespread in herniated disc tissues. Different types of C. acnes could induce different MCs by increasing MMP expression.

Efficacy of Intramedullary Nailing in the Treatment of Comminuted Proximal Humeral Fractures and Its Influence on Shoulder Joint Function Recovery.

In this paper, we have aimed to elucidate the therapeutic effect of intramedullary nailing (IMN) in treating comminuted proximal humeral fractures (CPHFs) and its influence on the recovery of shoulder joint function. For this purpose, 60 cases with CPHFs were selected, particularly from January 2020 to October 2021. In these cases, 28 cases were treated with a locking proximal humeral plate (LPHP) and assigned to the control (Con) group and the remaining 32 patients were treated with IMN and included in the research (Res) group. The therapeutic effect, surgical indicators, total complications, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and postoperative shoulder joint function score were compared between the two arms. We observed that compared with the Con group, the effective rate in the Res group was higher while the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and fracture healing time were shorter, the overall complication rate and VAS score were lower, and the postoperative shoulder joint function score was higher, all with statistical significance. The above results indicate that IMN is effective and safe in the treatment of CPHFs, which can validly reduce the discomfort of patients and facilitate the recovery of shoulder joint function.

Intramammary edema of invasive breast cancers on MRI T2-weighted fat suppression sequence: Correlation with molecular subtypes and clinical-pathologic prognostic factors.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between different patterns of intramammary edema on preoperative 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2-weighted fat suppression sequence and invasive breast cancer molecular subtypes and clinical-pathologic prognostic factors. METHODS: Between May 2014 and December 2020, 191 patients with invasive breast cancer who had undergone preoperative MRI and mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery were retrospectively enrolled. The relationships between different patterns of intramammary edema and invasive breast cancer molecular subtypes and clinical-pathologic features were evaluated using the Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U test and the χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Patients with luminal B (HER2 positive), HER2-enriched and triple negative breast cancers respectively had different patterns of intramammary edema (P < 0.001). There was a significant association between intramammary edema and clinical-pathologic factors, including larger tumor size, higher Ki-67 index, lymph node metastasis and lymphovascular invasion (all P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Intramammary edema may provide added values of predicting molecular subtypes and clinical-pathologic prognosis, enhancing the ability to individualize the treatment of patients with invasive breast cancer.

Quantitative parameters of magnetic resonance imaging cannot predict human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status in rectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To retrospectively investigate whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) quantitative parameters can differentiate human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status in rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 89 patients with surgically confirmed rectal cancer who underwent preoperative MRI from June 2014 to May 2019. Patients were divided into three groups: HER2 negative (HER2-Neg); HER2-low expression (HER2-L); and HER2 positive (HER2-Pos). Quantitative perfusion parameters derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) Tofts model (pharmacokinetic blood dual compartment model) were listed as follows: volume transfer constant (Ktrans), rate constant (Kep), and extracellular volume ratio (Ve). The mean, minimum, and maximum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values at standard (800 s/mm2) b-values were obtained with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Clinicopathologic characteristics and quantitative parameters were compared by Fisher's exact test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), respectively. RESULTS: The 89 patients included 52 (58.4%) with HER2-Neg, 31 (34.8%) with HER2-L, and 6 (6.8%) with HER2-Pos states. Fisher's exact test showed that clinicopathologic characteristics among the three groups were not significantly different (p = 0.281 to 1.000). Likewise, there were no associations between HER2 status and any quantitative parameters, including Ktrans (p = 0.296), Kep (p = 0.290), Ve (p = 0.184), ADCmean (p = 0.181), ADCmin (p = 0.143), or ADCmax (p = 0.058). CONCLUSION: Quantitative perfusion parameters (Ktrans, Kep, Ve) and ADC values were not able to discriminate HER2 status in patients with rectal cancer or evaluate treatment response in real time.

Increased internal cerebral vein diameter is associated with age.

OBJECTIVE: A recent study described the relationship between cerebral venous diameter and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume. However, the adults were not further grouped; therefore, we aimed to compare across age groups and use susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) to explore whether there is also a relationship between a larger cerebral draining venous diameter and age, which could provide evidence of a temporal relationship. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed data collected from 405 subjects (90 youths, 166 middle-aged participants, and 149 elderly subjects) and respectively used T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and SWI to assess WMHs and venous diameter. RESULTS: An increased internal cerebral vein (ICV) diameter was associated with age in different WMH groups (F = 3.453, 10.437, 11.746, and 21.723, respectively, all p < 0.001; multiple comparisons all p < 0.05), whereas the effect of the anterior septal vein (ASV) was opposite (F = 1.046, 1.210, 0.530, and 0.078, respectively, p > 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the ICV diameter and age with increasing WMH severity (R = 0.727, 0.709, 0.754, and 0.830, respectively, all p < 0.001). A statistically significant relationship between the thalamostriate vein (TSV) diameter and age was observed only in the moderate and severe WMH groups (F = 4.070 and 3.427, respectively, all p < 0.05; multiple comparisons all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that increased TSV and ICV diameters are associated with age with increasing WMH severity, especially the ICV diameter using SWI.

Relationship between quantitative parameters of lumbar vertebral perfusion and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND: Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a noninvasive method to evaluate the microcirculation of bone marrow in local tissue, which will be a new tool for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between quantitative perfusion parameters (Ktrans, Kep and Ve) and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to T value: normal bone mass group (T value ≥-1.0); bone loss group (-2.5 < T <-1.0); and osteoporosis group (T ≤-2.5). Ktrans, Kep and Ve of the lumbar spine were measured using quantitative DCE-MRI. The relationship between these parameters and age was analyzed. RESULTS: Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine and femoral neck gradually decreased with age. The values of Ktrans, Kep and Ve significantly decreased with age. The values of Ktrans, Kep and Ve of the lumbar vertebrae in the osteoporosis group were lower than those in the bone loss and normal bone mass group. Bone mineral density was positively correlated with the Ktrans and Ve of the lumbar vertebrae. CONCLUSIONS: The incidences of bone loss and osteoporosis increased with age. The measurement of BMD was conducive to early diagnosis of osteoporosis. Ktrans, Kep and Ve values of the lumbar vertebra decreased with age, and have a positive correlation with lumbar BMD. The value of DCE-MRI may play a role in the diagnostic algorithm of osteoporosis.