Objective To observe the changing levels of serum sFas before and after intravenous i mmunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment of incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD),to explore the roles of sFas in the pathogenesis of IKD and IVIG treatment mechanism.Methods Thirty eight cases of IKD children were selected as experimental group and 20 examples of the same age of children as the control group.The IKD children were treated by IVIG in combination with aspirin (ASP) ; and blood test was performed before treatment,3 days after treatment,and 14 days after treatment,respectively.Dual-resistant sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the levels of serum sFas,plasma Fibrinogen (PT-D),d-dimer (D-D),and c-reactive protein (CRP).Results The levels of serum sFas,PT-D,D-D,and CRP were significantly higher than the control group for IKD children before treatment[(0.55 ± 0.14)ng/L vs (0.24 ±0.04) ng/L,(552.3 ± 147.2) mg/dl vs (277.3 ±82.5)mg/dl,(649.0 ±201.6) μg/L vs (315.4 ±91.8)μg/L,and(72.2 ±28.7)mg/L vs (7.2 ±2.9)mg/L; t' =12.41,9.11,8.64,13.82;All P ＜ 0.05] ;3 days after treatment,compared with those before treatment and control group,the sFas level of IKD children at the third day after treatment was significantly decreased compared to that before treatment and control groups,respectively [(0.43 ± 0.09) ng/L vs (0.55 ± 0.14) ng/L,(0.24 ± 0.04) ng/L,F =47.624,All P ＜0.05] ;For the level of sFas at the 14th day after treatment,no statistical significance was found between IKD children and the control group[(0.24 ±0.05) ng/L vs (0.24 ±0.04) ng/L,t =0.596,P ＞ 0.05].Conclusions The abnormally increased serum sFas level before IVIG treatment suggests that dysfunction of apoptosis be involved in the pathogenesis of the IKD.Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment may be involved in the apoptosis process.

Objectives To explore the change of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in Kawasaki disease (KD). Methods Fourty KD pediatric patients, among them 12 patients with echocardiographic abnormalities in acute phase, 25 age-matched non-KD patients were enrolled. The level of serum IL-17 was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in acute and convalescent phase of KD patients and non-KD patients. At the same time, C-reactive protein (CRP), globulin, albumin were detected. Results In acute phase of KD patients, the level of serum IL-17 were signiifcantly higher than that in convalescent phase of KD patients and non-KD patients (P<0.05). The level of serum IL-17 was no signiifcant differences in convalescent phase of KD patients and non-KD patients (P>0.05). In acute phase of KD patients with echocardiography abnormalities, the level of serum IL-17 was signiifcantly higher than that with non-echocardiography abnormalities (P<0.05). The level of serum IL-17 in acute phase of KD patients were positively correlated with CRP and globulin (r=0.750, 0.750, P<0.05), and negatively correlated with albumin (r=-0.779, P<0.05). Conclusions IL-17 may be involved in KD immune pathogenesis. Serum IL-17 is one of the activity index of KD, which associ-ated with cardiovascular damages.

Objective To investigate the risk factors and preventive measures for acute epidural hematoma after posterior thoracic spine surgery.Methods A retrospective study of 14 patients who developed acute epidural hematoma after thoracic spine surgery from May 2002 to May 2012 was conducted.There were 6 males and 8 females,aged from 41 to 69 years (average,61.2 years).There were 10 cases of thoracic spinal canal stenosis,3 cases of thoracic spinal meningioma,and 1 case of thoracic metastasis.About 3-14 h (average,6.6 h) after posterior thoracic spine surgery,the neurological deterioration was found,and according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification,there were 5 cases of grade A and 9 cases of grade B.The neurological function before evacuation of hematoma was compared with that after evacuation of hematoma and that at final follow-up.The correlations between hematoma compression time,neurological improvement rate and neurological function before evacuation of hematoma were statistically analyzed.Results After evacuation of hematoma,the ASIA classification of 14 patients was as follows:grade B in 1 case,grade C in 2 cases,grade D in 4 cases,and grade E in 7 cases.The hematoma compression time of 3 patients with grade B or C was more than 10 hours.Obvious difference of neurological function was found before and after evacuation of hematoma.The neurological improvement rate was 63.7％±23.3％ after evacuation of hematoma,which was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time and positively correlated with preoperative neurological function.The neurological function before evacuation of hematoma was significantly different from that at final follow-up.The neurological improvement rate was 86.97％±17.58％ at final follow-up,which was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time and positively correlated with preoperative neurological function.Conclusion The acute epidural hematoma after thoracic spine surgery could cause severe neurological deterioration.The neurological improvement was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time.Evacuation of hematoma must be done as soon as possible once progressive neurological deterioration is found.

Objective To study the expression levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP),serum albumin of Kawasaki' s disease (KD),incomplete Kawasaki' s disease (IKD),and children whose fever were unexplained and to explore the clinical significance of the levels of NT-proBNP and serum albumin in the early diagnosis of IKD.Methods The levels of NT-proBNP of 246 cases of KD (KD group),61 cases of IKD (IKD group) and 301 cases of children with unexplained fever (fever group)were measured by the enzyme-linked fluorescence analysis (ELFA) at the day of admission,meanwhile,the levels of albumin were tested in KD,and IKD children were underwent ECG and echocardiography.Based on the test results,patients were further divided into the group with cardiovascular damage and the group without cardiovascular damage.SPSS 19.0 was used for statistical analysis.The t test was used to compare the parameters between each group,the variance analysis and association analysis were carried out with Pearson's correlation analysis.The ROC curve analysis was done to identify the cardiovascular damage threshold.Results ① The level of plasma NT-proBNP of the KD group,the IKD group was significantly h igher than the fever group [(789.1±4.7) ng/L,(824.8±4.4) ng/L vs (92.5±2.3) ng/L,F=230.736,all P＜0.05];② The level of albumin of the KD group and the IKD group was significantly lower than that of the fever group [(33.9±2.8) g/L,(33.8±3.1) g/L vs (40.8±3.6) g/L,F=355.648,all P＜0.05]; ③ The levels of NT-proBNPs between the cardiovascular damage group and the groups without cardiovascular damage among the KD group,and those of the IKD groups were compared.In the KD group,the NT-proBNPs level of the two subgroups was (2948±3) g/L (n=103) vs (305±3) g/L,n=143; while in the IKD group,the NT-proBNPs of the two subgroups was (1454±4) g/L (n=38) vs (323±4) g/L (n=23).The dif-ferences were statistically significant (t=16.464,4.356,all P＜0.05).④ The plasma NT-proBNP level higher than 933.5 ng/L was identify as the indicator for cardiovascular damage in both KD and IKD children.Its sensi-tivity was 88.1％,and its specificity was 89％.⑤ When the level of NT-proBNP was higher than 250 ng/L,the sensitivity for diagnosis in the KD,the IKD was 80.9％,85.2％ respec-tively,and the specificity was 85.7％.When the level of NT-proBNP was higher than 250 ng/L and that of albumin was lower than 35 g/L,the sensitivity for diagnosis of KD,IKD was 67.5％,70.5％ respectively,the specificity was 99.7％.Conclusion The level of plasma NT-proBNP (＞250 ng/L) accompanied by decreased albumin (＜35 g/L) may be specific markers for early diagnosis of IKD.In addition,the level of NT-proBNP ≥933.5 ng/L can be used as a diagnostic threshold,which has good sensitivity and specificity for identifica-tion of cardiovascular damage in the KD and IKD in children.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features and treatment of ascending paralysis after thoracolumbar fracture.MethodsThree male patients with 2 fracture levels at T12 and one at L1 were retrospectively studied.Their mean age was 41.3 years(range,39-42 years).All 3 cases were undertaken open decompression,reduction and internal fixation.Paralysis level began to ascend at 2-5 days after injury,with 2 cases up to C2,3 and 1 case up to T7.Two patients suffered irritating pain over the paralysis level before onset of ascending.Postoperative MRI images demonstrated well reduction and no compression of spinal cord.In the early phase after ascending,MRI obviously showed swelling in spinal cord and long T1 and long T2 signals shaped patchy and stripy distribution in the central area.One patient's MRI displayed that the spinal cord shrinked 16 days after trauma with abnormal high signal in the central area.ResultsTwo cases died of respiratory muscle paralysis and 1 case suffered paraplegia with no recovery 5 years after surgery.ConclusionAscending paralysis after thoracolumbar fracture is a rare complication with very poor prognosis.MRI is available for evaluating operational effects and affected level.The exact mechanism and effective treatment are still unclear and need further investigated.