Objective To establish the overall diagnostic accuracy of the measurements of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for malignant ascites. Methods After a systematic review of current studies, sensitivity, specificity, and other measures of the value of ascites concentrations of VEGF in the diagnosis of malignant ascites were pooled by using random effects models. Qualified studies on evaluation of VEGF in diagnosis of malignant ascites in English and Chinese published from January 1990 to December 2009 were retrieved from The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMbase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, WanFang Data, and VIP Information. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of each study with the tool of QUADAS. Statistical analyses were performed by employing Meta-Disc 1.4 software. Meta-analyses of the reported sensitivity and specificity of each study and Summary Receiver Operating Characteristic (SROC) curve were performed. Results Seven studies met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. After testing the heterogeneity of the included studies, a random effect model was selected to calculate the pool weighted sensitivity and specificity with 95% confidence interval: the sensitivity was 0.81 (95%CI 0.75 to 0.85), the specificity was 0.90 (95%CI 0.86 to 0.94), the DOR was 50.45 (95%CI 28.37 to 89.73), and the AUC of SROC was 0.9507 (SE=0.013 0). The subgroups were analyzed to identify the sources of heterogeneity according to race and agent sources. There was homogeneity among the three studies with agents from Ramp;D company (χ2=0.05, P=0.9750; I2=0.0%), and the AUC of SROC were 0.9675 (SE=0.016 7). Conclusion VEGF has a highly accurate sensitivity and specificity with a b ROC curve, which makes it a new marker to differentiate malignant ascites from the benign.
Objective To explore the value of virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ) of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods The ultrasound (US), elastography imaging(EI), and VTQ of ARFI were performed to determine the characteristics and features of 63 thyroid nodules. The pathological diagnosis was the gold standard. According to the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) of US, EI, and VTQ, the critical points and diagnostic values of US, EI, and VTQ in diag-nosis of malignant thyroid nodules were achieved. Results Of the 63 nodules, 45 were benign and 18 were malignant. The area under curves of US, EI, and shear wave velocity(SWV) were 0.837(95% CI:0.712-0.962), 0.863(95% CI:0.751-0.974), and 0.900 (95% CI:0.810-0.990) respectively, and all the 3 kinds of technique had diagnostic value(P=0.001), but there were no significant difference among the 3 kinds of technique on the area under curve(P > 0.05). According to the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve, the critical point of US in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was 3 conventional ultrasonography, which displayed a sensitivity of 83.3%, a specificity of 86.7%, and a accuracy of 85.7%. The critical point of EI grades in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was gradeⅣ, which displayed a sensitivity of 94.1%, a specificity of 82.6%, and a accuracy of 87.3%. The critical value of SWV in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was 3.39 m/s, which displayed a sensiti-vity of 88.9%, a specificity of 91.1%, and a accuracy of 90.5%. Conclusion US, EI, and VTQ techniques all have diagnostic values in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid nodules, and we should make combination with all of the 3 kinds of technique when performing differential diagnosis.
Objective To assess the significance of multi-detector row CT in differential diagnosis of the inguinal hernia and femoral hernia. Methods CT images which were reconstructed by multi-planer reconstruction （MPR） of 260 patients with inguinal hernia and femoral hernia who treated in our hospital form Oct. 1， 2012 to Oct. 31， 2013 were analyzed retrospectively， for exploring the relationship between sac and anatomic structure in the groin area. Results There were 146 patients with indirect hernia （75 in right， 60 in left， and 11 in bilateralism）， 82 patients with direct hernia（39 in right， 34 in left， and 9 in bilateralism）， and 32 patients with femoral hernia （17 in right and 15 in left）. The 157sacs of patients with indirect hernia originated lateral to the inferior epigastric artery， entered the inguinal canal and through the deep ring， which mainly located anterior （103/157， 65.6%） or anteromedial （36/157， 22.9%） to the spermatic cord or round ligament. The 91 sacs of patients with direct hernia originated medial to the inferior epigastric artery， and mainly located medial to the spermatic cord （70/91， 76.9%）. Sacs of both indirect hernia and direct hernia located anterosuperior to the inguinal ligament. The 32 sacs of patients with femoral hernia located posterior to the inguinal ligament and inside the “radiological femoral triangle” of coronal views. Conclusions The MPR images available from multi-detector row CT permit the accurate diagnosis of groin hernias. By using simple anatomical criteria， direct hernia， indirect hernia， and femoral hernia can be reliably distinguished．
Objective To investigate clinical significance of serum VEGF-C level and C-erbB-2 protein expression in patients with breast cancer. Methods Sixty-two female patients with breast invasive ductal cancer and breast benign lesion were respectively selected. Serum VEGF-C level was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before operation and at one month after operation, and C-erbB-2 protein expression in tissues of breast cancer was detected by immunohistochemistry. Then, the relationship between serum VEGF-C level and clinicopathologic characteristics and C-erbB-2 protein expressions wereas analyzed. Results The serum VEGF-C level before operation in breast cancer patients〔(279.65±17.34) pg/ml〕 was significantly higher than that in breast benign lesions patients 〔(167.26±12.15) pg/ml〕, P＜0.01. In breast cancer patients, the serum VEGF-C level before operation was higher than that at one month after operation 〔(209.45±15.23) pg/ml〕, P＜0.01. The serum VEGF level was related to tumor stage (P＜0.05) but not to patient age, tumor size, menopause status , lymph node metastasis or not and ER and PR expression (Pgt;0.05). The positive expression rate of C-erbB-2 protein in breast cancer patients (54.84%, 34/62) was significantly higher than that in breast benign lesion patients (11.29%, 7/62), P＜0.01. Moreover, the positive expression rate of C-erbB-2 protein in breast cancer patients with axilla lymph node metastasis (69.44%) was significantly higher than that without axilla lymph node metastases (34.62%), P＜0.05. The serum VEGF level increased with increasing expression intensity of C-erbB-2 protein and there was positive correlation between them (r=0.813，P＜0.05). Conclusions The serum VEGF-C level in breast cancer may be conducted as an assisted marker to differential diagnosis of breast tumor. C-erbB-2 is related to lymph node metastasis of breast cancer patients. There is synergistic effect between VEGF-C and C-erbB-2 in the lymph node metastasis way of breast cancer.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the clinical value of ultrasonographic elastography (UE) for the differential diagnosis of benign/malignant thyroid nodules. MethodsWe comprehensively searched the databases including The Cochrane Library (Issue2, 2013), PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang Data, Medalink, VIP and CBM from inception to the December of 2013, for including clinical research reports of determining thyroid nodules using ultrasonographic elastography. Literature screening according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction and methodological quality assessment were completed by two reviewers independently. Then Meta-DiSc software (version 1.4) was used for pooling analysis. ResultsA total of 35 studies including 4 127 patients were included. The results of metaanalysis showed that, specificity, sensitivity, positive likelihood radio, negative likelihood radio and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 0.89 (0.88 to 0.90), 0.88 (0.86 to 0.90), 6.37 (5.44 to7.47), 0.13 (0.11 to 0.16) and 58.72 (43.12 to 79.98), respectively; and the area under SROC curve (AUC) was 0.936 9. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that ultrasonographic elastography has fairly high sensitivity (88%) and specificity (89%) in differential diagnosis of benign/malignant thyroid nodules. The positive rate in the malignant thyroid group is 58.72 times higher that in benign thyroid cancer with better efficacy in differential diagnosis, so ultrasonographic elastography is of effective and feasible diagnostic value for thyroid benign/malignant nodules.
Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of pulmonary selerosing pneumocytoma (PSP). Methods A total of 13 cases of PSP were enrolled, and the clinical and imaging findings, pathologic features, and immunophenotype were collected and analyzed, with review of the literatures. Results Thirteen patients were all female, aged from 27 to 69 years old by first discovered, the average age was 53 years old. The maximum diameter ranged from 0.8 - 6 cm. It was mainly discovered accidentally by physical examination. According to the CT findings of 13 cases, all lesions were round or round-like, with a well-circumscribed mass. The “welt vessel sign” was suggestive to the diagnosis of PSP. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of two types of cells (surface epithelial cells and round mesenchymal cells), and four histological patterns (papillary, solid, hemorrhagic and sclerotic zone). Immuophenotype: thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and epithelial membrane antigen were expressed on both epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells. Pan cytokeratin (PCK) and cytokeratin 7 were only expressed on epithelial cells, and vimentin on mesenchymal cells. Conclusion PSP is a rare lung benign tumor, preoperative and intraoperative freezing diagnosis are difficult, the diagnosis depends on the morphologic characteristics of paraffin-embedded tissue sections and immunohistochemical staining. The identification of mesenchymal cells with TTF-1 positive and PCK negative is the key to PSP diagnosis.
Diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN, less than 30 mm in diameter) has been a formidable problem in clinical work. It is often detected in medical examination or other disease examinations by chance. There are no corresponding signs and symptoms of SPN except those on the imaging, so it is difficult to make a correct diagnosis as early as possible. Literature shows that there is a certain probability of malignant SPN, so early correct diagnosis is the key factor in deciding the prognosis and appropriate treatment. With the accumulation of clinical experiences, the development of new fiberoptic bronchoscopy, highresolution CT, and videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery, as well as the evolution of some invasive examination technologies, it is less difficult in distinguishing benign from malignant SPN than ever before. In this article, we will make a comprehensive review on the development in the aspect of differential diagnosis of SPN.
ObjectiveTo elucidate the relationship between clinical characteristics and pathology findings of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). MethodsA retrospective cohort study was carried out on 231 SPN patients pathologically confirmed between January 2009 and December 2013 in Nanjing General Hospital of Fuzhou Military Command and Fuzhou Second Hospital. Using pathological results as reference standard, the sex, age, smoking history, smoking amount, quit smoking history, and extrapulmonary malignant tumor history were compared between the SPN patients with different pathological type. ResultsFemale and age were positively correlated with the probability of malignancy in SPN with correlation coefficients as 1.090 and 0.063 respectively. Extrapulmonary malignant tumor history, smoking history, smoking amount, quit smoking history did not show significant relationship. Gender was a factor that affects pathological types of SPN. Female patients were in higher risk than male patients to have precancerous lesions, pulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma, adenocarcinoma. Male patients had higher risk suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, pulmonary cryptococcosis, squamous cell carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, inflammatory pseudotumor and metastases. Distribution of SPN pathologic types in each age group was similar. Most patients who had precancerous lesions, pulmonary hamartoma, pulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma, adenocarcinoma and inflammatory pseudotumor were not smokers. ConclusionsGender and age are valuable in distinguishing benign SPN from malignant SPN. Pathologic types of SPN are related to patients' gender and smoking history.
Objective To investigate differential points of clinical symptoms and pathology of solid-pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPTP) and islet cell tumor (ICT). Methods Fifteen cases of SPTP and twelve cases of ICT were studied in this retrospective research. Clinical symptom, pathologic feature and computed tomography (CT) image of patients with both tumors were analyzed, and the imaging features were compared with pathological results. Results The mean age of SPTP patients was 22.4 year-old. Twelve patients with SPTP presented a palpable abdominal mass as the initial symptom. It was observed that the tumor cells were located in a pseudopapillary pattern with a fibro-vascular core histologically. On the CT images, a mixture of solid and cystic structures could be seen in all the tumors. After taking enhanced CT scan, the solid portion was slightly enhanced in the arterial phase and the contrast intensity increased in the portal venous phase. On the other hand, the mean age of ICT patients was 39.3 year-old. The major symptom was due to the function of islet cell tumor, which was typical in 8 patients, presenting as Whipple triad. Histologically, cells demonstrated in trabecular, massive, acinar or solid patterns, and the blood supply of the tumor was abundant. On the CT images, most small tumors were difficulty to be detected. ICT could be markedly enhanced in the arterial phase and slightly enhanced in the portal venous phase on post-contrast CT scan. Conclusion Clinical symptom, pathologic feature and CT scanning are helpful to differentiate SPTP from ICT.
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of analyzing the pattern of gallbladder wall enhancement on MDCT to identify the different causes of acute cholecystitis. Methods In January 2009 to December 2012， 169 patients diagnosed with acute cholecystitis caused by various pathologic conditions were performed MDCT scans， the images of portal venous phase and clinical data were retrospectively reviewed by two blinded radiologists. There were 146 cases in non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group and 23 cases in hepatopathy cholecystitis group. The other 5 normal gallbladder cases diagnosed by MDCT scans were retrospectively reviewed as contrast group. Using five patterns according to the enhancement pattern of flat gallbladder wall thickening on MDCT. The study cases were then divided into five patterns and the thickness of the mucous membrane were measured. The occurrence rate of each pattern and the thickness of the mucous membrane between the groups were compared respectively. Results In the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group， there were typeⅡin 102 cases （69.9%）， typeⅢin 5 cases （3.4%）， typeⅣ in 30 cases （20.5%）， and typeⅤ in 9 cases （6.2%）. In the hepatopathy cholecystitis group， there were typeⅡin 2 cases （8.7%）， typeⅢ in 11 cases （47.9%）， typeⅣin 5 cases （21.7%）， and typeⅤin 5 cases （21.7%）. The occurrence rate of typeⅡin the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group was significialtly higher than that in the hepatopathy cholecystitis group （P＜0.005）. The occurrence rate of typeⅢ and typeⅤ in the hepatopathy cholecystitis group were significialtly higher than those in the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group（P＜0.005， P＜0.05）. The occurrence rate of type Ⅳ between the two groups had no significant difference （P＞0.05）. TypeⅠonly present in the contrast group. The non-hepatopathy group’s mean mucous membrane thickness was （2.61±1.30） mm ， which was thicker than the hepatopathy group’s （2.02±0.52） mm（t=2.22， P＜0.05）. Conclusion Analyzing the enhancement pattern of a thickened gallbladder wall on MDCT is helpful in identifying the causes of acute cholecystitis， and the gallbladder perforation or not.