Clinical Practice Report of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Renal Artery Disease.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of renal artery contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with modified inspection section and summarize subsequent changes in imaging assessment of renal artery disease. METHODS: A total of 1015 patients underwent renal artery CEUS were included in the study. Among them, 79 patients (156 renal arteries) suspected with renal artery stenosis (RAS) underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) subsequently. DSA was used as the gold standard to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CEUS in detecting RAS (≥30%) and severe stenosis (≥70%), as well as the diagnostic accuracy of classification of stenosis degree. Besides, 127 of the 1015 patients underwent other imaging examinations such as computed tomography angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) after CEUS and annual proportion of these imaging examinations was assessed. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of CEUS for detecting RAS (≥30%) was 96.4%, 88.6%, 94.2%, 95.6% and 90.7%, respectively and the kappa value was .857 (P < .01). CEUS had a good performance in distinguishing severe stenosis (≥70%) with a sensitivity of 91.1%, specificity of 95.5%, accuracy of 92.9%, PPV of 96.5%, NPV of 88.7% and the kappa value was 0.857(P < .01). There was no significant difference between CEUS and DSA in detecting stenosis (P = 1.0) and severe stenosis (P = .227). The diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in grading RAS was 85.3% and the kappa value was 0.753 (P < .01). Besides, the annual proportion of other imaging examinations decreased for 4 consecutive years. CONCLUSIONS: CEUS is a non-invasive, safe and valuable technique for the assessment of renal artery disease and worthy of promotion.

Wide QRS Complex Tachycardia Change to Narrow QRS Complex Tachycardia After ß-Blocker Administration.

This case report describes a patient in their 80s with a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation who presented with palpitation, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.

Rationale and study design for one-stop assessment of renal artery stenosis and renal microvascular perfusion with contrast-enhanced ultrasound for patients with suspected renovascular hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is always associated with abnormalities in renal microvascular perfusion (RMP). However, few imaging methods can simultaneously evaluate the degree of luminal stenosis and RMP. Thus, this study will aim to evaluate the feasibility of using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for assessing both RAS and RMP to achieve a one-stop assessment of patients with suspected renovascular hypertension. METHODS: This will be a single-center diagnostic study with a sample size of 440. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and suspected of having resistant hypertension will be eligible. Patients with Stages 1-3 CKD will undergo CEUS and computed tomography (CT) angiography (CTA). Values obtained by CEUS and CTA for diagnosing low-grade (lumen reduced by <60%) and high-grade (lumen reduced by ≥60%) RAS will be compared. Moreover, all patients will also undergo radionuclide imaging. The diagnostic value for RAS will be assessed by the receiver operating characteristic curve, including the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, negative predictive values, and area under the ROC. Pearson correlation analysis will be performed to assess the association between CEUS findings for RMP and glomerular filtration rate measured by a radionuclide imaging method. CONCLUSION: The data gathered from this study will be used to evaluate the feasibility of expanding clinical applications of CEUS for evaluation of patients with suspected renovascular hypertension. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800016252; https://www.chictr.org.cn.

The application of nutrition support in conservative treatment of chylous ascites after abdominal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Chylous ascites is the pathologic leakage of triglycerides-rich lymphatic fluid into the peritoneal cavity. Chylous ascites is a rare complication in abdominal surgery. This study aimed to find a relatively better method for nutrition support in the treatment of chylous ascites after abdominal surgery. METHODS: This study was a retrospective study. This study retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent abdominal surgery and developed chylous ascites, from the year 2010 to 2014, at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University and the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical College. Fifty-eight patients who developed chylous ascites after abdominal surgery were included in the study. The clinical effect of somatostatin was evaluated. The differences in the curative efficacy among a daily diet, a low-fat diet supplemented with medium-chain triglyceride (MCT), and total parenteral nutrition (TPN) were also analyzed in this study. RESULTS: Complete clinical success was reached earlier in patients treated with somatostatin (P<0.001). The tube removal time, the time to resumption of an oral diet, and the length of hospital stay after chylous leakage were significantly different between patients treated with and without somatostatin. The curative efficacies of the enteral nutrition (EN) + MCT plan and the TPN plan were quite similar, with no significant difference, however, were significantly different from the MCT regime, which was the worst. However, using the EN + MCT plan was more cost-effective (P=0.038). CONCLUSION: In treating chylous ascites, EN + MCT instead of TPN was the best nutrition support. Moreover, somatostatin or its analog octreotide should be used immediately. The treatment with somatostatin in combination with EN + MCT is recommended in the conservative treatment of postoperative chylous ascites.