Purpose It is still undetermined about the application of regular ultrasound (US) combined with ultrasonic elastography (UE) in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Therefore our aim is to evaluate the value of US combined with UE in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Materials and Methods The ultrasonography and pathological data of 214 patients (with 266 superficial lymph nodes) were analyzed retrospectively.The US and UE data were compared with the pathologic results.Results The elastic classification of reactive hyperplastic and lymphomatous lymph nodes were no greater than grade 3,respectively;that of malignant metastatic lymph nodes was greater than grade 4.The accuracy of UE or US+UE was higher in diagnosing reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes' nature compared with US (P＜0.05).The sensitivity and accuracy of US+UE in diagnosing malignant superficial lymph nodes were higher than those of US (90.13％ vs.72.37％;86.09％ vs.68.05％,P＜0.05).Compared with UE alone,those of US+UE were also higher (90.13％ vs.77.63％;86.09％ vs.72.56％,P＜0.05).Conclusion The accuracy of differential diagnosis of benign or malignant superficial lymph nodes can be improved by US+UE method.

Objective To evaluate blood flow structure within left ventricle,quantify the variation of the flow at infarct segments,and assess the impact of myocardial infarction.Methods Twenty-eight patients with chronic myocardial infarction(CMI)and 30 healthy controls were involved.The flow vector images on the section plane of the flow within the left ventricle were acquired by vector flow mapping(VFM).Timeflow(T-F)curve and all other peak systolic and diastolic flow curve include normal velocity profile,parallel velocity profile,vector profile were analyzed by DSA-RSI program.Results Ventricular ejction peak S,rapid ventricular filling peak E and atrial systole peak A were relatively lower in CMI group at infarct segment than normal control group,the time duration from bottom to peak was relatively longer in CMI group.Normal velocity profile,parallel velocity profile,vector profile,flow profile at peak S and E were lower in CMI group than normal group.Conclusions The velocity of CMI group was lower and the time to peak was longer than that of control group.VFM is a new noninvasive and clinically useful parameter for the evaluation of regional left ventricular segment flow dynamics.

Objective To select the ultrasonic appearances which effect the benign and malignant of thyroid lesions,and to explore the establishment and applications of supersonic evaluation system for thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) classification.Methods The ultrasound images of 1 080 thyroid nodule cases were retrospectively analyzed by Logistic equation,and the ultrasonic appearances were screened to identify benign and malignant of thyroid lesions.All appearances were obtained weights.The TI-RADS classification analysis software was assigned,which was used to analyze 332 patients with thyroid diseases and to verify the diagnostic performance of the TI-RADS classification system.Results Five ultrasonic features were selected into the regression model,including aspect ratio (odds ratio [OR]=3.61),margins (OR=3.83),composition (OR=11.46),echogenicity (OR=14.12),microcalcification foci (OR =48.82).Using objective evaluation system for TI-RADS classification in ultrasound in diagnosing 332 cases,the area under the ROC curve was 0.91 (P＜0.05).Conclusion Relatively the weight and formation of malignant indicators should be more concern than the number of ultrasonic malignant thyroid lesions indicators.The objective evaluation system for TI-RADS classification in ultrasound has relatively high diagnosis capability which established by the methods of Logistic equation.

Objective To search one ultrasonic method which could evaluate gastric emptying function accurately.Methods The gastric emptying time of 74 normal volunteers were measured by radioisotope scanning and different ultrasonic methods which including gastric antrum area,gastric antrum volume and whole gastric cylinder method.Results The gastric emptying time measured by whole gastric cylinder method related best with those measured by radioisotope scanning (r =0.79).The gastric emptying time was no significant difference between the cylinder method and radionuclide scanning (P ＞0.05).Compared with radionuclide scanning,those measured by gastric antrum area and gastric antrum volume had significant differences.Conclusions The whole gastric cylinder method can accurately reflect the gastric emptying function.

Objective:To establish a competing risk model to predict the cumulative hazard risk probability of the outcomes (unhealed or hyperthyroidism recurrence) of Graves disease (GD) treated with 131I. Methods:From January 2020 to May 2021, 61 GD patients (13 males, 48 females; age (46.0±13.8) years) who received 131I treatment in Zhangzhou Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University were enrolled. The outcomes of treatment were recovery, unhealed or hyperthyroidism recurrence (event 1), and hypothyroidism (event 2). Follow-up was started 1 month after 131I treatment and ended 1 year later. It was terminated in the following conditions: one of the two events occurred; no event occurred after 1 year of follow-up; the research deadline was up. The Fine-Gray test was used to analyze the factors related to event 1, and then the competitive risk model was established. Results:Thirty-nine patients had hypothyroidism, 17 patients were unhealed or had hyperthyroidism recurrence, 2 patients lost follow-up, and 3 patients had normal thyroid function after 1 year follow-up. Multivariate analysis showed that effective half-life (hazard ratio ( HR)=1.74, 95% CI: 1.10-2.75, β=0.55, P=0.019) and thyroid volume ( HR=1.12, 95% CI: 1.07-1.17, β=1.12, P<0.001) were risk factors for event 1, while the elasticity of thyroid was a protective factor ( HR=0.17, 95% CI: 0.06-0.54, β=-1.76, P=0.003). The C index of the nomogram constructed based on the multi-factor competitive risk model was 0.784(95% CI: 0.633-0.935). Conclusions:Thyroid volume, elastic value, and effective half-life are associated with treatment outcomes of 131I. The competitive risk model can predict the therapeutic outcomes of GD patients treated with 131I.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of virtual touch imaging quantification (VTIQ) technique in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant breast lesions.Methods From September to December 2015, the imaging data of 115 breast lesions in 100 patients confirmed by pathology on conventional ultrasound (2DUS) and VTIQ were retrospectively analyzed. The breast nodules were examined by 2DUS firstly and then the lesions were classified by breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS). The maximum, minimum and average of shear wave velocity (SWV) values were obtained from multiple SWV measurement under the VTIQ speed mode. According to the pathology results, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were plotted to determine the most accurate SWV value and the cut-off value for differential diagnosis. And the diagnosis efficiency was compared between 2DUS and VTIQ.Results There were 38 malignant nodules and 77 benign nodules in 115 breast nodules. BI-RADS grading≥4b level was set as the malignant nodules and grading≤ 4a level as the benign nodules. The SWVmax, SWVmin, and SWVmean on VTIQ of benign and malignant breast nodules were (5.11±1.61) m/s, (2.90±0.86) m/s, (3.73±1.02) m/s, and (7.22±0.94) m/s, (4.33±1.31) m/s, (5.73±1.11) m/s. There were significant differences between malignant and benign breast nodules in SWVmax, SWVmin, and SWVmean on VTIQ (t=-7.442,-7.047,-9.356, allP<0.001). Based on the area under curve of ROC, the SWVmean value in the nodule was the best value in comparison with other SWV values. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of diagnose malignant lesion conducted by 2DUS were 89.5％, 85.7％, 87.0％, 0.63 and 0.84, respectively. The cut-off value of VTIQ mean was 4.34 m/s. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for the diagnosis of malignant lesion conducted by VTIQ were 89.5％, 85.7％, 87.0％, 0.76 and 0.95, respectively. The diagnosis efficiency of VTIQ was better than 2DUS.Conclusion The study proved that the VTIQ SWVmean is the best parameter for differential diagnosis and VTIQ plays an important role in differential diagnosis of breast nodules.

OBJECTIVE To construct a predictive model of ultrasound(US),analyze and compare with its diagnostic efficacy in different forms of combination with CT of the neck in predicting central district lymph node metastasis(CLNM)of papillary thyroid carcinoma.METHODS Lesions confirmed as PTC by surgical pathology in our hospital from January 2021 to December 2021 were included for study,The lesions were scored according to the American college of radiology thyroid imaging reporting and data system(ACR TI-RADS),the risk model to predict CLNM was constructed based on the training set and verified internally in the testing set.The model was combined with CT to diagnose CLNM using both serial and parallel modes.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves of CT,model,and model combined with CT for the diagnosis of CLNM was drawn separately,and then calculated and compared the area under the curve(AUC).RESULTS A total of 470 lesions were included in 440 patients.The model can be presented as Y=-4.664+0.171 ×maximum diameter+0.685×gender+0.600×multifoca lity+0.251×ACR TI-RADS score.After ROC curves analysis,the optimal diagnostic cut-off value of the model was 0.407.When Y≥ 0.407(optimal diagnostic cut-off point),CLNM was considered to be positive.In the training set,the C-index of model was 0.780(95％CI:0.661-0.756).In the testing set,the C-index was 0.778(95％CI:0.682-0.874).The Homsmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed that the calibration of the model was good(P=0.294,P=0.879).In the testing set,compared with CT,model and the serial mode,the sensitivity(77.5％),diagnostic coincidence rate(80.6％),and negative predictive value(84.6％)of parallel mode were higher,whereas specificity(83.0％)was relatively lower.On diagnostic CLNM,the parallel mode had a higher AUC than the series mode(0.803 vs.0.669,Z=-2.931,P=0.003).CONCLUSION The model combined with CT in parallel mode can improve the clinical accuracy of diagnosis in CLNM and compensate for the shortcomings of traditional imaging techniques such as US and CT,which has specific clinical applicability.