Objective To assess the results of microvascular decompression (MVD) in treating cranial nervehyperactive dysfunction. Methods From October 2002 to January 2007, 106 patients with cranial never hyperactivedysfunction were treated with MVD. Among them, there were 47 males and 59 females with an average age of 62 years (42-85 years), including 56 cases of trigeminal neuralgia, 33 cases of hemifacial spasm and 17 cases of spasmodic torticoll is. MRI showed obvious nerve root compression in 60 patients (56.6%), suspected nerve root compression in 33 patients (31.1%) and no nerve root compression in 13 patients (12.3%). The disease course was 2-300 months with median course of 54 months. The typical manifestations before operation were pain and myospasm in corresponding innervation region. Results The superior cerebellar artery was the most common offending vessel in trigeminal neuralgia (44.6%, 25/56), the anterior inferior cerebellar artery in hemifacial spasm (33.3%, 11/33), and the vertebra-basilar artery in spasmodic torticol is (82.4%, 14/17). Compl ications of facial paralysis, hypoacusia, facial numbness, dizziness, pain of neck and shoulder, muscles weakness of neck and subcutaneous dropsy occurred in 31 patients (29.2%). All patients were followed up for 6-42 months. The total response rate was 90.6%. The curative rate of MVD was 83.9% (47/56) in trigeminal neuralgia, 81.8% (27/33) in hemifacial spasm and 41.2% (7/17) in spasmodic torticol is, respectively. Five patients failed to response (4.7%), 2 of them were cured after re-operation and 3 abandoned further treatrment. Five patients suffered recurrence 3-8 months after operation (4.7%), 2 of them recovered after re-operation, 1 got rel ief by Gamma-knife treatment, and 2 abandoned further treatment. Conclusion MVD has a good therapeutic effect on the disease caused by vascular compression of cranial nerve. Comprehensive preoperative evaluation, skillful operational technique and intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring should be implemented to enhance the therapeutic effects of MVD and to prevent possible compl ications.
Objective To investigate the cl inical features of mal ignant melanoma (MM) in the central nervous system (CNS) and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Methods Seven MM-in-CNS patients’ records between September 1996 and April 2007 were analyzed retrospectively, including 6 males and 1 female aged 18-74 years. The 5 cases were located in the supra-tentorial area, 1 in the spinal cord and 1 in the whole brain. CT or MRI scan was appl ied. The lesion was in the right frontal area in 4 cases, in the right temporal are in 1 case, in the left temporal area in 1 case, in the left apex area in 1 case and in the cervical spinal cord of C5-7 in 1 case. Six patients underwent neurosurgical operation and1 patient received the Gamma Knife therapy. The pathological examination revealed that 2 cases were metastatic MM and 5 were primary. Results One patient with primary MM received no follow-up, and the rest 6 patients were followed up for 2 weeks to 2 years with the time of median 8 months. One patient with metastatic MM died 2 months after operation, 1 patient to with metastatic MM died 2 weeks after Gamma-Knife treatment, 1 patient with metastatic MM with primary MM died 2 years after operation, and 3 patients with primary MM were still al ive and self-independent 6, 10 and 24 months after operation, respecti vely. Conclusion Since MM-in-CNS is short of specificity in cl inical symptoms and signs, its diagnosis mainly rel ies on the pathological examination and is assisted by MRI. The combined therapy giving priority to operation is recommended.
Objectives To establish a course evaluation model for overseas medical students in West China Medical School of Sichuan University, to identify problems in teaching and to solve problems based on evidence so as to futher improve the quality of teaching. Methods We conducted a preliminary course evaluation to determine the limitations of our evaluation methods and to convey our intention to related stakeholders. Firstly, we identified problems in teaching according to the feedback from our students using a questionnaire. Secondly, we proposed an initial list of possible solutions to these problems based on evidence from literature searching and discussion within the Department of Teaching Affairs. We submitted the initial list to the administrative departments, teaching departments (teachers) and students to identify applicable solutions through two rounds of formal consensus. Their attitudes to this procedure of evaluation and decision-making were collected. Finally, incentives were given out by administrative departments and teaching departments to facilitate the implementation of applicable solutions. Results Teachers’ English ability and the didactic teaching methods were the most concerned problems. In addition, some semesters and courses were not well arranged and there was not enough practice time. An initial list of 14 items was submitted to teaching departments and students. They all agreed with the procedure of evaluation and decision-making. We also found that some aspects of the evaluation methods and styles need to be improved. An additional paper would report further results. Conclusion This preliminary evaluation was helpful for improving teaching and formal evaluation in the future. We need to strengthen the English language skills of younger faculty and gradually adopt a model of student-centered and enquiry-based teaching. This process of evaluation and improvement should be applied as a long-term policy and an evidence-based research group should be established to work together with our quality assurance unit.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of suspensory external fixation technique in treatment of proximal humeral fractures.MethodsBetween August 2013 and October 2018, 14 patients with proximal humeral fractures were treated with suspensory external fixation technique. There were 10 males and 4 females with an average age of 55.9 years (range, 43-76 years). There were 10 cases of falling injury and 4 cases of traffic accident injury. Among them, there were 9 cases of Neer type Ⅲ and 5 cases of Neer type Ⅳ. The time from injury to operation was 3-7 days (mean, 4.6 days). Nine cases were complicated with osteoporosis. The preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score was 6.1±1.2. The effectiveness was comprehensively evaluated by hospital stay, fracture healing time, removal time of external fixator, postoperative complications, VAS score, and Neer score of shoulder joint function.ResultsAll operations were successfully completed, and the hospital stay was 6-14 days, with an average of 9.4 days. All the incisions healed by first intention, and no infection or other complications occurred. All patients were followed up 16-60 months (mean, 35.4 months). X-ray films examination showed that all fractures healed, the healing time was 4-7 months (mean, 4.9 months). The removal time of external fixator was 5-8 months (mean, 6.3 months). VAS scores were 1.5±0.8 at 1 month after operation and 1.0±0.9 at last follow-up, both of which were significantly improved when compared with preoperative score, the differences were significant between different time points (P<0.05). Neer score of shoulder joint function was 75-100 (mean, 91.1); 9 cases were excellent, 4 cases were good, and 1 case was fair. The excellent and good rate was 92.9%. During follow-up, there was no adverse events such as acromion impingement, nonunion, or pseudoarthrosis.ConclusionFor proximal humeral fractures, the suspensory external fixation technique is a simple and reliable treatment method that can significantly improve joint function.
Transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an important examination for rectal tumors. The inhomogeneity of the CEUS images has important clinical significance. However, there is no objective method to evaluate this index. In this study, a method based on gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) is proposed to extract texture features of images and grade these images according the inhomogeneity. Specific processes include compressing the gray level of the image, calculating the texture statistics of gray level co-occurrence matrix, combining feature selection and principal component analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction, and training and validating quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). After ten cross-validation, the overall accuracy rate of machine classification was 87.01%, and the accuracy of each level was as follows: Grade Ⅰ 52.94%, Grade Ⅱ 96.48% and Grade Ⅲ 92.35% respectively. The proposed method has high accuracy in judging grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ images, which can help to identify the grade of inhomogeneity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of rectal tumors, and may be used to assist clinical doctors in judging the grade of inhomogeneity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound of rectal tumors.