Objective To evaluate the efficiency and the timing of continuous blood purification(CBP) in patients with multiple or-gan dysfunction syndrome(MODS) and acute renal failure(ARF) following cardiac surgery. Methods From November,2003 to July,2007,thirty-one patients with MODS and ARF following cardiac surgery were treated with CBP. They were divided into two groups, alive group ( group A) and dead group ( group B). Clinical data of the two groups were reviewed. Before CBP, duration of extracorporeal circulation, du-ated. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), oxygenic index (PaO2/FiO2), white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT) and renal function (blood urea nitrogen, BUN, ercatinine, Cr) were observed before and after CBP. Results The number of im-paired organs of patients in group B was significantly more than that in group A before CBP ( P＜0.05). MODS scores ( 12.9±3.2 vs 6.9 ±2.3, P＜0.05) and APACHE Ⅱ scores (26.3±10.4 vs 17.2±5.1, P＜0.05)of group B were significantly higher than those of group A before CBP. After treatment of CBP for 24 hours, APACHE Ⅱ scores and MODS scores only significantly decreased in group A (P＜0.05 ). After treatment of CBP, Cr and BUN significantly reduced, while MAP and PaO2/FiO2 increased, in all patients, but HR was signif-icantly lower than that before CBP in group A (P＜0.05). The duration of ARF (34.67±32.79 hours vs 13.05±14.09 hours,P＜cantly higher than those of group A. Conclusion MODS scores and APACHE II scores can be used to evaluate the severity of patients with MODS and ARF after cardiac surgery. CBP is an effective treatment for these patients. It is suggested that early CBP therapy is important for reducing the chances of the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and mortality of these patients.

Objective To evaluate the effect of individualized and quantified rehabilitation exercise after te-nosuture of the digital flexor tendon. Methods One hundred and eighty cases of digital flexor tendon tenosuture were randomly divided into a quantification group and a control group. For the quantification group, the maximal ten-sile strength against rupture (Fmax) was measured during the operation. After splinting, the length of an elastic bandwas measured when there was a 2 mm clearance between the 2 ends of the sutured tendon, and the protective device was then fixed with all its parameters unchanged in the whole study. For the control group, Fmax was not measured and there was no protective device during training. Both groups were subdivided into subgroups A and B according to the daily training frequency. Training frequencies of 3 or 6 times per day were applied to the two subgroups. Results After 3 months of rehabilitation treatment, there was no re-rupture in the quantification group, but 6 cases of re-rup-ture occurred in the control group. 91% of the eases in the quantification group were evaluated as excellent or good, while in the control group 80% of the cases were evaluated as excellent or good. Clinical efficacy was significantly better in the quantification subgroup receiving 6 treatments per day than in any other subgroup. Conclusions Indi-vidualized and quantified rehabilitation exercise can prevent tendon re-rupture after tenosuture. 6 sessions of training per day may be better than 3 sessions per day.

Objective The prosthesis used for aortic valve replacement (AVR) may be too small in relation to the body size, thus causing valve prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) and abnormally high transvalvular pressure gradients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of PPM and the impact of PPM on hemodynamic and early mortality after AVR. Methods A total of 292 patients ( 167 males, 125 females; mean age of ( 52.8 ± 14.6 ) years, with ranging 22 - 82 years) who underwent AVR between January 2007 and December 2009 were retrospectively evaluated. Etiologies were: rheumatic in 243 cases, degenerative in 36, congenitally bicuspid aortic valve in 8, and infective endocarditis in 5. Combined operations with AVR including mitral valve replacement ( 172 cases), mitral valve repair (56 cases), tricuspid valve repair (238 cases), and coronary artery bypass grafting (32 cases). The aortic valve prosthesis effective valve orifice area (EOA) was divided by the body surface area (BSA) to obtain the EOA index (EOAI). PPM was then defined as none or mild if EOAI was ＞0.85 cm2/m2, as moderate for 0.65 -0.85 cm2/m2 and as severe for ＜0.65 cm2/m2. The mean flow rate through aortic prostheses and mean transvalvular pressure gradients were measured by color Doppler after AVR. The prevalence of PPM was compared between the different type ( mechanical or bioprosthetic valve) and the different size ( ＞21 mm or ≤21 mm) of aortic valve prostheses. The effect of PPM on hemodynamic and early mortality after AVR was also studied. Results 219 patients received mechanical AVR and 73 bioprosthetic AVR. Moderate PPM occurs more frequently with bioprosthetic AVR (6.25% versus 48.22%, P ＜0. 01 ). Bigger than 21mm prostheses were used in 191 patients and ≤21 mm prostheses in 101 patients. The prevalence of PPM was 13.61% and 33.66% respectively ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). According to the EOAI of the aortic valve prostheses,all the 219 patients were divided into two group, PPM group and non-PPM group. The mean flow rate of aortic prostheses and mean transvalvular pressure gradients in PPM group was significantly higher than those in non-PPM group [(2.66 ± 0.87 ) m/s versus ( 1. 58 ± 0.47 ) m/s, ( 26.50 ± 6.25 ) mm Hg versus ( 16.75 ± 3.46 ) mm Hg, P ＜ 0. 01]. There were 9 deaths during early period of operation, and the total 30-day operative mortality was 3.08%. The postoperative early mortality of PPM group and non-PPM group was 6.67% and 2.16% respectively, and there were significantly difference between the two group ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion Prosthesis-patient mismatch is common present after AVR, especially in patients with bioprostheses and small size valve prostheses. PPM has a negative impact on postoperative hemodynamic and early mortality. PPM results in higher transvalvular pressure gradients and higher early mortality.

Objective To investigate the clinical applications of coronary CT angiography in patients with suspected coronary artery disease and identify factors that affect CT findings. Methods Medical records of patients suspected of coronary artery disease over a period of 12 months from a tertiary teaching hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patient age, sex (male/female), duration of symptoms and abnormal rates of coronary CT angiography scans were analysed to investigate the relationship among these parameters. The patients by age were duration of symptoms was also classified into five groups: less than one week, one week to one month, one to three months, three to six months and more than six months. Results Of the 880 patient records reviewed, 800 met the above study criteria. Five hundred and forty nine patients demonstrated abnormal CT findings (68.6%). There was no significant difference in the percentage of abnormal CT findings based on patient sex and the duration of symptoms (P = 0.14). The abnormal rates of coronary CT angiography, however, increased significantly with increasing age (P < 0.001); with patients over 65 years of age 2.5 times more likely to have an abnormal CT scan relative to a patient under 45 years. A significant difference was found between abnormal coronary CT angiography and the duration of symptoms (P = 0.012). Conclusions Our results indicate coronary CT angiography findings are significantly related to the patient age group and duration of symptoms. Clinical referral for coronary CT angiography of patients with suspected coronary artery disease needs to be justified with regard to the judicious use of this imaging modality.

Objective The aim of the study is to study the effect of manual massage on relapse rate and quality of life of grand mal epilepsy patients.Methods Using prospective research method,clinical data of patients with epileptic seizures and without attack up to 3 years and undergoing withdrawal of drugs for one year were collected.The grand mal epilepsy patients were randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group (76 cases in each group).The experimental group was given manual massage.The control group was not given manual massage.Both groups were given follow-up for 1 year.The relapse rate and quality of life were compared between two groups.Results The relapse rate of the ex perimental group was 17％,and that of the control group was 33％,the difference was significant.The score of life quality in the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group.Conclusions Manual massage can reduce relapse rate and improve quality of life for patients with epileptic seizures after withdrawal of drugs,which is worthy of wide application.

Objective To understand the characteristics of hydatidiform mole (HM) in recent years in Guangdong area. Methods We analyzed statistically the clinical pathological characteristics of 432 cases with HM in Guangdong area from 2000 to 2016 and compared them with the characteristics of cases before 2000. Results Of the total,the rate of partial hydatidiform mole(PHM)reached 75.9％ and it was higher than that of complete hydatidiform mole. The incidence of PHM was higher than that before 2000. The highest proportion of cases was found in women aged from 21 to 25 and the menopause-time of the cases decreased when compared with that in 1990s,which indicated that early detection and early diagnosis of hydatidiform mole was increased. Vaginal bleeding was still a common accompanying symptom. The cases with history of pregnancy exceeded the cases without by 15.7 times;the pluriparas exceeded the nulliparae by 1.4 times and the cases with abortion history exceeded the cases without by 2.8 times in the incidence of HM. Conclusions Since 2000,HM has been dominated by PHM in Guangdong;the diagnosis time is advanced and the patients aged from 21 to 25 are in the majority. Previous pregnancy is an important risk factor for HM in Guangdong.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a breast cancer subtype that has poor prognosis and exhibits a unique tumor microenvironment. Analysis of the tumor microbiome has indicated a relationship between the tumor microenvironment and treatment response. Therefore, we attempted to reveal the role of the tumor microbiome in patients with TNBC receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: We collected TNBC patient RNA-sequencing samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus and extracted microbiome count data. Differential and relative abundance were estimated with linear discriminant analysis effect size. We calculated the immune cell fraction with CIBERSORTx and conducted survival analysis using the Cancer Genome Atlas patient data. Correlations between the microbiome and immune cell compositions were analyzed and a prediction model was constructed to estimate drug response. Results: Among the pathological complete response group (pCR), the beta diversity varied considerably; consequently, 20 genera and 24 species were observed to express a significant differential and relative abundance. Pandoraea pulmonicola and Brucella melitensis were found to be important features in determining drug response. In correlation analysis, Geosporobacter ferrireducens, Streptococcus sanguinis, and resting natural killer cells were the most correlated factors in the pCR, whereas Nitrosospira briensis, Plantactinospora sp. BC1, and regulatory T cells were key features in the residual disease group. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that the microbiome analysis of tumor tissue can predict chemotherapy response of patients with TNBC. Further, the immunological tumor microenvironment may be impacted by the tumor microbiome, thereby affecting the corresponding survival and treatment response.

BACKGROUND: After left atrial appendage (LAA) device closure, peri-device leakage into the LAA persists due to incomplete occlusion. We hypothesized that pre-procedural three-dimensional (3D) geometric analysis of the interatrial septum (IAS) and LAA orifice can predict this leakage. We investigated the predictive parameters of LAA device closure obtained from baseline cardiac computerized tomography (CT) using a novel 3D analysis system. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 22 patients who underwent LAA device closure. We defined peri-device leakage as the presence of a Doppler signal inside the LAA after device deployment (group 2, n = 5) compared with patients without peri-device leakage (group 1, n = 17). Conventional parameters were measured by cardiac CT. Angles theta and phi were defined between the IAS plane and the line, linking the LAA orifice center and foramen ovale. RESULTS: Group 2 exhibited significantly better left atrial (LA) function than group 1 (p = 0.031). Pre-procedural theta was also larger in this group (41.9degrees vs. 52.3degrees, p = 0.019). The LAA cauliflower-type morphology was more common in group 2. Overall, the patients' LA reserve significantly decreased after the procedure (21.7 mm3 vs. 17.8 mm3, p = 0.035). However, we observed no significant interval changes in pre- and post-procedural values of theta and phi in either group (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Angles between the IAS and LAA orifice might be a novel anatomical parameter for predicting peri-device leakage after LAA device closure. In addition, 3D CT analysis of the LA and LAA orifice could be used to identify clinically favorable candidates for LAA device closure.
Atrial Appendage* ; Foramen Ovale ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

Intestinal entrapment between two vertebral bodies is very rare. In all previous cases, it occurred by major trauma. However, the bowel entrapment between two vertebral bodies without trauma has never been reported, not to mention as the cause of lower extremity radicular pain. We describe the case of an 82-year-old female patient with right lower extremity radicular pain without recent trauma history. The patient was diagnosed sigmoid colon entrapment between the L5 and S1 vertebrae by lumbar spinal computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and showed improvement in radicular pain after manual reduction of interpositioned colon during surgery. Intestinal entrapment between two vertebrae without trauma is caused by degenerative and vacuum changes of the intervertebral disc combined with the anterior longitudinal ligament injury.
Aged, 80 and over ; Colon ; Colon, Sigmoid* ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Longitudinal Ligaments ; Lower Extremity* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Radiculopathy ; Spine* ; Vacuum