Objective To investigate the clinical significance of low dose corticosteroid applied in early period after lung volume reduction surgery（LVRS）. Methods From Apr. 2001 to Mar. 2004, 27 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were undergone video-assisted unilateral LVRS assisted with mini-incision in our department were retrospectively reviewed. According to whether dispensed with postoperative corticosteroid or not, patients were divided into corticosteroid group and non-corticosteroid group. Corticosteroid group received dexamethasone 10mg iv tid for 3 days and then declined to prednisone 5mg qd for 7 days. Both groups were measured and compared the quantity of thoracic drainage flow, duration of chest tube drainage, the time of air leaks and fever, and so on. At same time, blood gas analysis and blood routine test were performed at 1, 3, 7 and 30 d after operation. Results Corticosteroid and non-corticosteroid groups had no statistically differences in the air leaks time （P 〉 0.05）, but the quantity of thoracic drainage flow of corticosteroid group was lower than that of non-corticosteroid group evidently （700±210ml vs. 950±150ml, P = 0.001）. There was significant difference in average duration of chest tube drainage between both groups （9±3 d vs. 12±2 d, P = 0. 05）. Compared with non-corticosteroidgroup, PaO2 of corticosteroid group was higher at 1, 3d after operation （P〈0.05）. The amount of blood leukocyte of corticosteroid group was lower than that of non-corticosteroid group at 3, 7d after operation, there was no statistically significant in two groups （P 〉 0. 05）. At early period after surgery, both groups had no significant infection and death patient. Conclusion The low dose corticosteroid applied in early period after LVRS for short time（10 days in this research） could shorten the duration of chest tube drainage, decrease the quantity of thoracic drainage flow and the extent of inflammation in pleural cavity. In the mean time, this treatment does not increase the occurrence of significant complications during the early postoperative period, and there is no negative influence to the blood gas analysis.
ObjectiveTo investigate the operative method of repairing soft tissue defect of the thumb with modified radial dorsal fasciocutaneous flap and its effectiveness.MethodsBetween June 2015 and December 2016, 15 patients with volar or dorsal defects of the thumb were treated with modified radial dorsal fasciocutaneous flaps which distal pedicles were cut off. Of 15 cases, 11 were male and 4 were female, aged 35-70 years (mean, 46 years). The causes of injury included crush injury in 12 cases and avulsion injury in 3 cases. Because all patients had volar or dorsal defects of the thumb which were accompanied by tendon or bone exposure, they had no condition or desire to replant. There were 12 cases of volar defect of thumb and 3 cases of dorsal defect. The area of defects ranged from 2.0 cm×1.2 cm to 3.0 cm×2.5 cm. The time between injury and operation was 16 hours to 2 days (mean, 30.4 hours). The radial dorsal fascio-cutaneous flaps of 2.3 cm×1.5 cm to 3.3 cm×2.8 cm in size were adopted to repair defects. The donor sites were directly sutured.ResultsAll flaps survived, and no severe swelling or tension blister occurred. The donor sites and wounds healed by first intention. All patients were followed up 3-12 months (mean, 6 months). The color and texture of the grafted flaps were similar to those of normal skin, with no bloated appearance. According to total active motion standard at last follow-up, the finger function was excellent in 8 cases and good in 7 cases.ConclusionModified radial dorsal fasciocutaneous flap of the thumb is a reliable flap with easy dissection and less trauma in repair of soft tissue defects of the thumbs, and satisfactory clinical outcome can be obtained.
Objective To improve accuracy of clinical diagnosis through analyzing the CT characteristics and clinical manifestations of patients with benign lung diseases whose CT manifestations initially led to a suspicion of lung cancer. Methods This study collected 2 239 patients of benign lung disease verified by postoperative pathology in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Chao-yang Hospital from June 2006 to December 2016. Lesions of 173 patients (101 males and 72 females with a mean age of 56.0 years) were considered very likely to be malignant on preoperative contrast CT scan, which were sorted to 20 types of lung diseases, and the 20 types of diseases contained 907 patients diagnosed or misdiagnosed. Statistical analyses were performed using the CT and clinical characteristics of the 173 patients. Results Among the 907 patients with benign lung disease, the benign pathologies that were most commonly misdiagnosed by preoperative enhanced CT were pulmonary leiomyoma (100.0%), pulmonary actinomycosis (75.0%), pulmonary cryptococcosis (71.4%), sclerosing hemangioma (50.0%) and organizing pneumonia (44.2%). Among the 173 patients with benign diseases, the most common diseases were tuberculosis (29.5%), organizing pneumonia (28.9%), pulmonary hamartoma (6.4%) and pulmonary abscess (6.4%). In the 173 patients, 17.3% had fever, 56.6% coughing, 8.7% yellow sputum, 28.9% hemoptysis, 16.2% chest pain, 18.5% elevated leukocyte counts and 4.6% elevated carcinoembryonic antigen levels. Most of the CT manifestations consisted of nodular or mass shadows, 70.5% of which had foci≤3 cm and manifestations were similar to those of lung cancer, such as a spiculated margin (49.1%), lobulation (33.5%), pleural indentation (27.2%) and significant enhancement (39.3%). Furthermore, some patients had uncommon tumor signs, such as calcification (12.7%), central liquefactive necrosis (18.5%), satellite foci (9.8%) and multiple pulmonary nodules (42.2%). Moreover, 24.3% of the patients had enlarged lymph nodes of the mediastinum or hilum. Conclusion As the CT manifestations of some benign lung conditions are similar to those of lung cancer, careful differential diagnosis is necessary to identify the basic characteristics of the disease when the imaging results are ambiguous, and the diagnosis of a lung disease need incorporate the patients' clinical characteristics and a comprehensive analysis.
Objective To investigate the surgical procedure selection, operation technique and safety of anatomic sublobar resection for pulmonary nodules. Methods The clinical data of 242 patients with clinical stage ⅠA lung cancer who underwent anatomic sublobar resection in our hospital between 2017 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 81 males and 161 females with a median age of 57.0 (50.0, 65.0) years. They were divided into 4 groups according to the surgical methods, including a segmentectomy group (n=148), a combined segmentectomy group (n=31), an enlarged segmentectomy group (n=43) and an anatomic wedge resection group (n=20). The preoperative CT data, operation related indexes and early postoperative outcomes of each group were summarized. Results The median medical history of the patients was 4.0 months. The median maximum diameter of nodule on CT image was 1.1 cm, and the consolidation/tumor ratio (CTR) was ≤0.25 in 81.0% of the patients. A total of 240 patients were primary lung adenocarcinoma. The median operation time was 130.0 min, the median blood loss was 50.0 mL, the median chest drainage time was 3.0 d, and the hospitalization cost was (53.0±12.0) thousand yuan. The operation time of combined segmentectomy was longer than that of the segmentectomy group (P=0.001). The operation time (P=0.000), intraoperative blood loss (P=0.000), lymph nodes dissected (P=0.007) and cost of hospitalization (P=0.000) in the anatomic wedge resection group were shorter or less than those in the other three groups. There was no significant difference in the drainage time, total drainage volume, air leakage or postoperative hospital stay among the four groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The combined application of segmentectomy and wedge resection technique provides a more flexible surgical option for the surgical treatment of early lung cancer with ground glass opacity as the main component.
ObjectiveTo investigate the predictive value of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on pulmonary nodules in people aged less than 50 years.MethodsThe 147 patients with pulmonary nodules and aged less than 50 years who were treated in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Sichuan Cancer Hospital from August 1, 2019 to January 15, 2020 were divided into a lung cancer group and a lung benign disease group. The lung cancer group included 36 males and 68 females, with the age of 27-49 (43.54±5.73) years. The benign lung disease group included 23 males and 20 females, with the age of 22-49 (42.49±6.83) years. Clinical data and exhaled breath samples were collected prospectively from the two groups. Exhaled breath VOCs were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to select variables and establish a prediction model. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the prediction model were calculated.ResultsThere were statistically significant differences in sex (P=0.034), smoking history (P=0.047), cyclopentane (P=0.002), 3-methyl pentane (P=0.043) and ethylbenzene (P=0.009) between the two groups. The sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve of the prediction model with gender, cyclopentane, 3-methyl pentane, ethylbenzene and N,N-dimethylformamide as variables were 80.8%, 60.5% and 0.781, respectively.ConclusionThe combination of VOCs and clinical characteristics has a certain predictive value for the benign and malignant pulmonary nodules in people aged less than 50 years.
Objective To study the correlation of preoperative hemoglobin amount with venous thromboembolism (VTE) after surgical treatment of bronchiectasis and the clinical significance. Methods A retrospective study was performed on patients with bronchiectasis who underwent surgical treatment in our center from June 2017 to November 2021. The differences in blood parameters between the VTE patients and non-VTE patients were compared. The relationship between preoperative hemoglobin and VTE was confirmed by quartile grouping and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results A total of 122 patients were enrolled, including 50 males and 72 females, with a mean age of 52.52±12.29 years. The overall incidence of VTE after bronchiectasis was 9.02% (11/122). Preoperative hemoglobin amount (OR=0.923, 95%CI 0.870-0.980, P=0.008) and D-dimer amount (OR=1.734, 95%CI 1.087-2.766, P=0.021) were independent influencing factors for VTE after bronchiectasis. The incidence of VTE after bronchiectasis decreased gradually with the increase of preoperative hemoglobin amount. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of postoperative D-dimer alone was 0.757, whereas the AUC of postoperative D-dimer combined with preoperative hemoglobin amount was 0.878. Conclusion Low preoperative hemoglobin is an independent risk factor for postoperative VTE. Postoperative D-dimer combined with preoperative hemoglobin amount has a better predictive performance compared with postoperative D-dimer alone for postoperative VTE.
The number of investigator initiated research (IIR) is increasing. But the recognition and management of IIR in China is still in its infancy, and there is a lack of specific and operable guidance for the implementation process. Based on our practical experiences, previous literature reports, and current policy regulations, the authors took prospective IIR as an example to summarize the implementation process of IIR into 14 steps, which are as the following: study initiation, ethical review, study registration, study filing, case report form design, database establishment, standard operating procedure making, investigator training, informed consent, data collection, data entry, data verification, data locking and data archiving.