Objective To explore the application value of virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ) technique in differentiating small solid thyroid nodules.Methods The patients with suspiciously malignant thyroid nodules(solitary,size range 5-15 mm),homogeneous and normal color Doppler flow imaging in the rest of thyroid parenchyma,were enrolled in this study.Five repeated measurements were performed on both nodules and extra-nodular tissues using VTQ.A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drew according to shear wave velocity(Vs).Results 62 patients with a total of 67 lesions were included in this study,turned out to be 39 malignant and 28 benign.The Vs of malignant group nodules,malignant group extra-nodular tissues,benign group nodules and benign group extra-nodular tissues were (3.91 ±1.85) m/s,(2.03 ± 0.42)m/s,(2.29 ± 0.56)m/s,(1.84 ± 0.45)m/s,respectively.The Vs difference between malignant and benign nodules was statistically significant (P =0.000),while the Vs difference between malignant and benign extra-nodular tissues had no statistical significance (P =0.07).The best cutoff Vs value for distinguishing malignant from benign nodules was 2.78 m/s,with the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of 76.9％,78.6％ and 80.6％ respectively.The area under ROC curve was 0.84.Conclusions VTQ could evaluate the elasticity of thyroid nodules,and was helpful in the diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules.

Objective To investigate the correlations of extracellular matrix and hepatic ultramicrostructural changes with clinical manifestations in patients with mild chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Methods Patients with chronic HBV infections were enrolled and were divided into mild CHB group (n=66) and HBV carrier group (n=10).Serum samples were collected from patients, and serum HBV markers, HBV DNA load and liver fibrosis indexes were measured.All subjects received liver biopsy, and the tissue samples were observed by light microscope and electron microscope.T test and χ2 test were performed for measurement data and enumeration data, respectively.Spearman test was used for ranked data.Results The differences on ALT and AST levels between mild CHB group and HBV carrier group were significant (t=12.42, 7.06, P＜0.05), but there was no significant difference on HBV DNA load between two groups (t=0.24, P ＞ 0.05).Serum liver fibrosis indexes (hyaluronic acid, type Ⅲ collagen,type Ⅳ collagen and laminin protein) in mild CHB group were not significantly higher than those in HBV carrier group (t=0.45, 0.95, 0.76 and 1.21, P ＞0.05).In mild CHB group, there were 33 patients with ≥G2 and ≥S2, but in HBV carrier group were only 2 patients (χ2=4.17, P ＜ 0.05).Seventeen patients in mild CHB group were with S3-4, while that was not observed in HBV carrier group (χ2=4.75, P ＜0.05).In mild CHB group, hepatic ultramicrostrutural changes on fat storing cell, collagen protein and portal area were correlated with fibrosis grades, and the correlation coefficients were 0.351, 0.675 and 0.301, respectively (P=0.004, 0.000 and 0.014).Conclusion Electron microscope is of higher sensitivity than light microscope in observing hepatic ultramicrostructural changes, which is effective in evaluating the severity of mild CHB.

Objective To evaluate the clinical diagnosis and treatment of acute renal infarction.Methods Two cases (3 sides) of acute renal infarction were reported.The patients were 1 male and 1 female,with the age of 62 and 54 years.Case 1 presented acute left flank pain,and enhanced CT showed a non-enhanced area in the upper and mid pole of the left kidney.The diagnosis of focal renal infarction was made and treated with low-molecular heparin (6000 U ).Case 2 presented acute both right abdominal and flank pain,and enhanced CT showed right renal artery embolism and right renal complete infarction.Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and catheter thrombolytic therapy was applied.4 months later,the patient presented acute left flank pain,and enhanced CT showed a low density area in left kidney without enhanced by contrast,and DSA and catheter thrombolytic therapy was applied again.Results In case 1,contrastenhanced MRI showed a still low signal area like enhanced CT after 2 days of treatment.The renal function remained normal in the follow-up of 36 months.In case 2,the right kidney resorted to moderate blood flow but became atrophy later.In the follow-up of 4 months,a recurrent focal infarction was confirmed in left kidney by enhanced CT.The left kidney also resorted to moderate bloodflow after DSA and catheter thrombolytic therapy.The renal function became normal after follow-up of 10 months and no new infarction was observed.Conclusions The diagnosis of acute renal infraction could be made by enhanced CT or MRI.Early diagnosis and location of the infraction renal artery is critical for recovery of the impaired renal function.Acute renal infraction should be suspected in patients with unexplained persistent and steady flank or abdominal pain in emergence department.