Objective To explore the technique and clinicaleffects of internal fixation of complicated distal femoral fractures using the supporting steel of AO femoral condyles.Methods From October 2001 to February 2004, 23 cases of complicated distal femoral fractures were treated with open reduction and internal fixation using the supporting steel of AO femoral condyles. Of 23 cases, there were 19 males and 4 females, aged 27-55 years. The locations were the right side in 10 cases and the left side in 13 cases. Fracture caused by traffic accident in 16 and by fall in 7, including 14 closed fracture and 9 open fracture, 21 fresh fracture and 2 old fracture. Accordingto AO classification, 6 cases were classified as type A extra-articular fracture and 17 cases as type C intra-articular fracture. The X-ay films before operation showed comminuted fracture of femoral intercondyles and femoral supracondyles. All cases received scientific and rational rehabilitative treatment postoperatively. Results The postoperative follow-up ranged from 6months to 20 months, 23 cases achieved fracture healing with an average healing period of 10.3 months (from 7 months to 16 months). According to the criteria of Kolmert and Wulff, the results were excellent in 16 cases, good in 4 cases, fair in 2 case andpoor in 1 case. The excellenct and good rate was 86.9%.Conclusion Internal fixation with the supporting steel of AO femoral condyles for treatment of complicated distal femoral fractures has advantages of reasonable design, convenient operation, firm fixation and reliable clinical outcome .
Objective To determine the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differentiation of primary liver cancer (PLC) and hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (HAE). Methods The data of 56 patients with PLC or HAE were collected between January 2010 and May 2015. Grayscale and CEUS features of the patients were analyzed retrospectively. The frequency of each imaging finding, including calcification, arterial enhancement, and internal enhancement were evaluated and compared. Results Statistically significant difference of the proportion of gender and age were detected between the two groups (P=0.013, 0.002). Thirty-eight PLC lesions were detected in 32 patients. The diameters of PLC lesions were 3-10 cm with an average of (5.6±2.1) cm. Thirty-two HAE lesions were found in 24 patients. The diameters of HAE lesions were 4-12 cm with an average of (9.1±4.4) cm. Statistically significant difference of lesion size and the incidence rate of calcification (5.3% vs. 75.0%) were seen between PLC and HAE (P<0.001). Peripheral enhancement were seen in 100.0% (38/38) PLC lesions, including 84.2% (32/38) hyperenhancement and 15.8% (6/38) dendritic hyperenhancement. All PLC lesions demonstrated hypoenhancement in late phase. Irregular peripherally hyperenhancement both in arterial and late phase were detected in 43.8% (14/32) HAE lesions. The other 56.2% (18/32) HAE lesions showed no peripheral enhancement both in arterial and late phase. No internal enhancement were seen in HAE lesions. The presence of arterial enhancement (100.0% vs. 43.8%) and absence of internal enhancement (0 vs. 100.0%) were significantly different between PLC and HAE (P<0.001). Conclusions PLC is predicted by arterial phase hyperenhancement and late phase hypoenhancement on CEUS. HAE is predicted with calcification on baseline sonography and internal non-enhancement on CEUS. Arterial phase enhancement is less common and less intensive in HAE than in PLC which also contributes to the differentiation of these lesions.
ObjectivesTo compare the efficacy of acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ (APACHEⅡ), national early warning score (NEWS), pulmonary embolism severity index (PESI) and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) on pulmonary embolism (PE) prognosis.MethodsClinical data of patients with PE treated in The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from 2010 to 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into death group and survival group, and four clinical scores were calculated. The differences of risk factors between the two groups were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain the independent risk factors related to mortality. The ROC working curve was used to compare the capability of four clinical scores for PE mortality. SPSS 24.0 and Medcalc 18.2.1 software were used for statistical analysis. ResultsA total of 318 patients with PE were included, and the mortality rate was 13.2%. The APACHEⅡ, NEWS, PESI and CCI of the death group were higher than those of the survival group. There were significant differences between two groups (P<0.05). It was confirmed by logistic regression analysis that cerebrovascular disease, heart rate, leukocyte, troponin T, arterial partial pressure of oxygen, right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) were independent risk factors for 90-day mortality. The areas under the ROC curve of APACHEⅡ, CCI, PESI, NEWS were 0.886, 0.728, 0.715 and 0.731, respectively. The area under the ROC curve of APACHEⅡ was the largest, which was better than NEWS, CCI and PESI (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference among NEWS, CCI and PESI.ConclusionsAPACHEⅡ may be the best predictor of mortality in PE patients, which is superior to NEWS, CCI and PESI.
Objective To investigate the effectiveness and feasibil ity of modified single-stage transpedicular decompression, debridement, and posterior instrumentation in treatment of thoracic tuberculosis. Methods Between January 2005 and December 2009, 22 cases of thoracic tuberculosis were treated with modified single-stage transpedicular decompression, debridement, and posterior instrumentation. There were 12 males and 10 females with an average age of 39.4 years (range, 22-52 years). The mean disease duration was 1.2 years (range, 3 months to 10 years). The involved vertebral bodies were T5-12, including 2 segments in 17 cases and 3 segments in 5 cases. The kyphosis Cobb angle was (31.2 ± 14.5)° before operation. According to Frankel score system for neurological deficits, 2 cases were classified as grade A, 1 case as grade B, 8 cases as grade C, 5 cases as grade D, 1 case as grade E, and 5 cases had no neurological deficits before operation. Results All incisions healed by first intention. All patients were followed up 22.2 months on average (range, 12-65 months). Pain in low back was rel ieved in varying degrees 2 weeks after operation. Fusion was achieved in the bone implant area at 3 months after operation. According to Frankel score system, 1 case was rated as grade B, 2 cases as grade C, 4 cases as grade D, 7 cases as grade E, and 8 cases had no neurological deficits at last follow-up. The kyphosis Cobb angle was (16.2 ± 3.6)°, showing significant difference when compared with the value before operation (t=5.952, P=0.001). No loosening, emersion, breakage of internal fixation or pneumothorax occurred 1 year after operation. Conclusion Single-stage transpedicular decompression and posterior instrumentation is an effective and safe method in treatment of thoracic tuberculosis.
Objective To investigate the safety and reliability of ultrasonic bone curette in posterior cervical single open-door laminoplasty. Methods The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed, from 193 patients who underwent single open-door laminoplasty (C 3–7) from January 2012 to January 2016. The patients were divided into three groups according to different instruments: posterior single open-door laminoplasty was performed with ultrasonic bone curette in 61 cases (group A), with bite forceps in 73 cases (group B), and with micro-grinding drill in 59 cases (group C). There was no significant difference in gender, age, the course of disease, underlying disease and preoperative Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) between groups (P>0.05). The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, drainage volume at 48 hours, JOA score, improvement rate, VAS and perioperative com-plication were compared. Results The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and drainage volume at 48 hours of group A were significantly less than those in groups B and C (P<0.05), but there was no significant between groups B and C (P>0.05). The follow-up time was 12-21 months (mean, 14.6 months) in group A, 24-36 months (mean, 27.5 months) in group B, and 28-47 months (mean, 38.1 months) in group C. There were no cerebrospinal fluid leakage and incision infection in three groups. No complications of internal fixation loosening and rupture occurred during the follow-up. Rediating pain occurred in 6 cases of group A, 8 cases of group B, and 6 cases of group C, and was cured at 1 week after dehydration and physical therapy. No nerve root palsy was found in three groups. Fracture of portal axis occurred in 5 cases (7 segments) of group B and was fixed by micro titanium plate. The JOA score and VAS score at last follow-up were significantly improved when compared with preoperative scores in three groups (P<0.05); there was no significant difference in JOA score and improvement rate and VAS score between groups (P>0.05). Conclusion It is safe and reliable to use the ultrasonic bone curette in posterior cervical single open-door laminoplasty. It can shorten the operative time and has similar clinical curative effect to the traditional operation, and the lateral rotation of the lamina can be avoided.
Ultrasound is the best way to diagnose thyroid nodules. To discriminate benign and malignant nodules, calcification is an important characteristic. However, calcification in ultrasonic images cannot be extracted accurately because of capsule wall and other internal tissue. In this paper, deep learning was first proposed to extract calcification, and two improved methods were proposed on the basis of Alexnet convolutional neural network. First, adding the corresponding anti-pooling (unpooling) and deconvolution layers (deconv2D) made the network to be trained for the required features and finally extract the calcification feature. Second, modifying the number of convolution templates and full connection layer nodes made feature extraction more refined. The final network was the combination of two improved methods above. To verify the method presented in this article, we got 8 416 images with calcification, and 10 844 without calcification. The result showed that the accuracy of the calcification extraction was 86% by using the improved Alexnet convolutional neural network. Compared with traditional methods, it has been improved greatly, which provides effective means for the identification of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.
ObjectiveTo optimize the culture method of human primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and investigate the effect of CAFs on the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro and tumor formation in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model.MethodsThe PDAC specimens were collected and primarily cultured. In order to observe the effect of CAFs on the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro, the CAFs were co-cultured with primary PDAC cells consistently and the alone cultured primary PDAC cells served as the control. Then, these cells were injected into the shoulder blades of NOG mice in order to develop the PDX model.ResultsWhen the primary PDAC cells separated from the CAFs, the proliferation capacity of the primary PDAC decreased rapidly in the passage culture in vitro, and the most cells were terminated within 5 generations. By contrast, when the CAFs co-cultured with the primary PDAC cells, the proliferation capacity of primary PDAC cells were preserved, which could be stably transferred to at least 10 generations. The tumors of NOG mice were detected during 2–3 weeks after injecting the mixed cells (primary PDAC plus CAFs), while had no tumor formation after injecting CAFs alone. The rate of tumor was 92.9% (13 cases) in the primary PDAC plus CAFs group, which was higher than that of the CAFs alone group (64.3%, 9 cases), but there was no statistical difference because of the small sample size. The volume of tumor in the primary PDAC plus CAFs group at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after the tumor cells injection was significantly larger than that in the CAFs alone group at the corresponding time point, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01).ConclusionsThe CAFs could promote the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro. This new method of co-culture CAFs with primary PDAC could improve the success rate of primary PDAC cells culture and improve the success rate of PDX model in NOG mice.
ObjectiveTo compare the long-term effectiveness of wheather posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) preserved between posterior fenestration decompression interbody fusion and posterior total laminectomy interbody fusion. MethodsThe clinical data of 89 patients who suffered from single segmental degenerative diseases of lower lumbar spine and followed up more than 10 years after receiving lumbar spinal fusion between January 2000 and January 2005 were retrospectively analysed. The patients were divided into two groups according to the different surgical methods, the 33 patients in group A were treated with posterior lumbar fenestration decompression, interbody fusion, and internal fixation, while 56 patients in group B were treated with posterior total laminectomy resection decompression, interbody fusion, and internal fixation. There was no significant difference in gender, age, body mass index, type of lesion, disease duration, lesion segment, and preoperative Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and Cobb angle of lumbar lordosis between the two groups (P>0.05). The effectiveness was evaluated by JOA score, and the improvement of pain was evaluated by VAS score. The incidence of adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) at last follow-up was recorded. ResultsBoth groups were followed up 10-17 years (mean, 12.6 years). There were 3 cases (9.1%) in group A and 5 cases (8.9%) in group B complicated with cerebrospinal fluid leakage, showing no significant difference (χ2=0.001, P=0.979). There was no complication such as infection, nerve root injury, internal plant loosening or transposition in both groups. Intervertebral fusion was satisfactory in both groups. The fusion time in groups A and B was (3.4±1.2) months and (3.7±1.6) months respectively, and there was no significant difference between the two groups (t=0.420, P=0.676). At last follow-up, the JOA score and VAS score of the two groups were significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones (P<0.05); there was no significant difference in Cobb angle of lumbar lordosis before and after operation in group A (t=0.293, P=0.772), but the Cobb angle of lumbar lordosis in group B was significantly lost at last follow-up (t=14.920, P=0.000). At last follow-up, the VAS score and Cobb angle of lumbar lordosis in group A were significantly superior to those in group B (P<0.05); there was no significant difference in JOA score between the two groups (t=0.217, P=0.828). There were 3 cases (9.1%) in group A and 21 cases (37.5%) in group B complicated with ASD, showing significant difference between the two groups (χ2=8.509, P=0.004). ConclusionLong-term effectiveness of both groups was satisfactory, but in terms of maintaining lumbar lordosis and reducing the incidence of ASD, the lumbar fusion retaining PLC is superior to total laminectomy and lumbar fusion removing PLC.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) through unilateral puncture of extreme extrapedicular approach and bilateral injection of bone cement. Methods The clinical data of 156 patients with OVCF who met the selection criteria between January 2014 and January 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated with PVP through unilateral puncture. According to different puncture methods, the patients were divided into two groups. In group A, 72 cases were performed PVP through the unilateral puncture of extreme extrapedicular approach and bilateral injection of bone cement, while in group B, 84 cases were performed PVP through the unilateral puncture of transpedicular approach. There was no significant difference in general data of gender, age, weight, bone mineral density, lesion segment, and disease duration between the two groups (P>0.05). The radiation exposure time, operation time, volume of bone cement injection, rate of bone cement leakage, pre- and post-operative visual analogue scale (VAS) score and local Cobb angle were recorded and compared between the two groups. Results There was no significant difference in radiation exposure time and operation time between the two groups (P>0.05), but the volume of bone cement injection in group A was significantly more than that in group B (t=20.024, P=0.000). Patients in both groups were followed up 24-32 months (mean, 26.7 months). There were 9 cases (12.5%) and 10 cases (11.9%) of cement leakage in group A and B, respectively. There was no significant difference in the incidence (χ2=0.013, P=0.910). No neurological symptoms and discomfort was found in the two groups. The VAS scores of the two groups were significantly improved after operation (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in local Cobb angle between before and after operation in group A (P>0.05); but the significant difference was found in local Cobb angle between at 2 years after operation and other time points in group B (P<0.05). The VAS score and local Cobb angle in group A were significantly better than those in group B at 2 years after operation (P<0.05). Conclusion It is simple, safe, and feasible to use the unilateral puncture of extreme extrapedicular approach and bilateral injection of bone cement to treat OVCF. Compared with the transpedicular approach, the bone cement can be distributed bilaterally in the vertebral body without prolonging the operation time and radiation exposure time, and has an advantage of decreasing long-term local Cobb angle losing of the fractured vertebrae.
ObjectiveTo investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of modified replanting posterior ligament complex (PLC) applying piezoelectric osteotomy in the treatment of primary benign tumors in thoracic spinal canal.MethodsThe clinical data of 38 patients with primary benign tumors in thoracic spinal canal between March 2014 and March 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 16 males and 22 females, aged from 21 to 72 years (mean, 47.1 years). The disease duration ranged from 6 to 57 months (mean, 32.6 months). Pathological examination showed 24 cases of schwannoma, 6 cases of meningioma, 4 cases of ependymoma, 2 cases of lipoma, and 2 cases of dermoid cyst. The lesions located in 18 cases of single segment, 15 cases of double segments, and 5 cases of three segments. The length of the tumors ranged from 0.7 to 6.5 cm. There were boundaries between the tumors and the spinal cord, cauda equina, and nerve roots. The preoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score was 12.2±2.3 and the thoracic Cobb angle was (11.7±2.7)°. Modified PLC replantation and microsurgical resection were performed with piezoelectric osteotomy. Continuity of uniside supraspinal and interspinous ligaments were preserved during the operation. The PLC was exposed laterally. After removing the tumors under the microscope, the pedicled PLC was replanted in situ and fixed with bilateral micro-reconstruction titanium plate. X-ray film, CT, and MRI examinations were performed to observe spinal stability, spinal canal plasty, and tumor resection after operation. The effectiveness was evaluated by JOA score.ResultsThe operation time was 56-142 minutes (mean, 77.1 minutes). The intraoperative blood loss was 110-370 mL (mean, 217.2 mL). The tumors were removed completely and the incisions healed well. Three cases complicated with cerebrospinal fluid leakage, and there was no complications such as spinal cord injury and infection. All the 38 patients were followed up 24-28 months (mean, 27.2 months). There was no internal fixation loosening, malposition, or other related complications. At last follow-up, X-ray films showed no sign of kyphosis and instability. CT showed no displacement of vertebral lamina and reduction of secondary spinal canal volume, and vertebral lamina healed well. MRI showed no recurrence of tumors. At last follow-up, the thoracic Cobb angle was (12.3±4.1)°, showing no significant difference when compared with preoperative value (t=0.753, P=0.456). JOA score increased to 23.7±3.8, showing significant difference when compared with preoperative value (t=15.960, P=0.000). Among them, 14 cases were excellent, 18 were good, 6 were fair, and the excellent and good rate was 84.2%.ConclusionModified replanting PLC applying piezoelectric osteotomy and micro-reconstruction with titanium plate for the primary benign tumors in thoracic spinal canal can reconstruct the anatomy of the spinal canal, enable patients to recover daily activities quickly. It is an effective and safe treatment.