OBJECTIVETo evaluate contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting testicular perfusion in acute testis contusion.

METHODSWe established the model of testis contusion in 11 healthy male New Zealand rabbits by randomly hitting one side of the scrotum under general anesthesia. We examined the bilateral scrotums of all the animals before, immediately after and at 2, 4 and 6 hours after modeling by color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and CEUS, and analyzed the time-intensity curve (TIC), arriving time (AT), time to peak intensity (TTP), peak intensity (PI), half time of descending peak intensity (HT) and area under the curve (AUC) in the healthy and injured testis, respectively.

RESULTSCEUS exhibited a higher sensitivity in detecting tissue perfusion than CDFI. The mode of contrast agent perfusion in testicular contusion was fast in and slow out. There were no evident differences between the contused and the healthy testis in AT, TTP and PI before modeling. The contused testis showed significantly earlier AT and TTP, higher PI and larger AUC (P < 0.05) than the healthy one at different time points after modeling, but no statistically significant difference was found in HT (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAccurate parameters of testicular perfusion in acute testis contusion can be quantitatively obtained by CEUS, which are of important value for the diagnosis of testis contusion.

Animals ; Contrast Media ; Contusions ; diagnostic imaging ; Male ; Rabbits ; Testis ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color

PROPOSE: In this study, we re-assessed the criteria defined by the radiological society of North America (RSNA) to determine novel radiological findings helping the physicians differentiating COVID-19 from pulmonary contusion. METHODS: All trauma patients with blunt chest wall trauma and subsequent pulmonary contusion, COVID-19-related signs and symptoms before the trauma were enrolled in this retrospective study from February to May 2020. Included patients (Group P) were then classified into two groups based on polymerase chain reaction tests (Group Pa for positive patients and Pb for negative ones). Moreover, 44 patients from the pre-pandemic period (Group PP) were enrolled. They were matched to Group P regarding age, sex, and trauma-related scores. Two radiologists blindly reviewed the CT images of all enrolled patients according to criteria defined by the RSNA criteria. The radiological findings were compared between Group P and Group PP; statistically significant ones were re-evaluated between Group Pa and Group Pb thereafter. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity of each significant findings were calculated. The Chi-square test was used to compare the radiological findings between Group P and Group PP. RESULTS: In the Group PP, 73.7% of all ground-glass opacities (GGOs) and 80% of all multiple bilateral GGOs were detected (p < 0.001 and p = 0.25, respectively). Single bilateral GGOs were only seen among the Group PP. The Chi-square tests showed that the prevalence of diffused GGOs, multiple unilateral GGOs, multiple consolidations, and multiple bilateral consolidations were significantly higher in the Group P (p = 0.001, 0.01, 0.003, and 0.003, respectively). However, GGOs with irregular borders and single consolidations were more significant among the Group PP (p = 0.01 and 0.003, respectively). Of note, reticular distortions and subpleural spares were exclusively detected in the Group PP. CONCLUSION We concluded that the criteria set by RSNA for the diagnosis of COVID-19 are not appropriate in trauma patients. The clinical signs and symptoms are not always useful either. The presence of multiple unilateral GGOs, diffused GGOs, and multiple bilateral consolidations favor COVID-19 with 88%, 97.62%, and 77.7% diagnostic accuracy.
COVID-19 ; Contusions/diagnostic imaging* ; Humans ; Lead ; Lung/diagnostic imaging* ; Lung Injury/etiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*

OBJECTIVETo study changes and rules of the left ventricular functions in rabbits with myocardial contusion through parallel functional analysis by using echocardiography combined with cardiac catheter intervention.

METHODSThirty healthy rabbits were selected and impacted to make moderate or severe myocardial contusion by BIM-II biomedical impact machine. The changes of hemodynamics and cardiac systolic and diastolic functions were respectively observed before injury and 1, 4, 8 and 24 hours after injury.

RESULTSAfter myocardial contusion, the heart rate, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure and mean arterial pressure of rabbits decreased remarkably at 1-4 hours. The left ventricular end systolic pressure (LVESP), the maximum increasing rate of the left intraventricular pressure (+dp/dtmax), isovolumic pressure (IP) and the maximum systolic velocity of the left ventricle (Vmax) also decreased markedly. And then these parameters recovered to the level of preinjury at 8-24 hours. The left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), the rate of the left intraventricular pressure (-dp/dtmax) and the decreasing time constant of the left intraventricular pressure (T) increased remarkably 1 hour after myocardial contusion, and did not decrease until 8 hours after myocardial contusion. Detection by echocardiography showed that ejection fraction of the left ventricle markedly decreased at 24 hours after myocardial contusion, while the systolic volume decreased obviously as early as 1 hour after myocardial contusion, at 4-8 hours it recovered a little and again decreased at 24 hours. The end systolic volume and end diastolic volume increased after myocardial contusion, but statistical significance was only seen at 8 hours after myocardial contusion.

CONCLUSIONSCardiac functions of the left and right ventricles are markedly injured after myocardial contusion with disorders of the left ventricle diastolic function and of the right ventricle systolic function as the dominant injury. While the systolic function of the left ventricle can recover. Echocardiography shows clinical importance in detection of early injuries of cardiac functions.

Animals ; Contusions ; physiopathology ; Female ; Heart Function Tests ; Heart Injuries ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Hemodynamics ; Male ; Rabbits ; Ultrasonography ; Ventricular Function, Left ; Ventricular Pressure