Purpose To investigate the feasibility to diagnose and evaluate the vulnerability of the atherosclerotic plaque through contrast-enhanced ultrasonography. Materials and Methods Thirty-four patients with carotid atherosclerosis were enrolled in the study to take contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and were observed on whether the plaque was enhanced and the features of its enhancement. The peak intensity (PI), time to peak (TTP), and density echo (DE) were calculated according to the time-intensity curve with QLAB software. Results The ratio of enhanced malacoplakia and the mixed plaque showed no difference (χ2=0.847, P>0.05). The percentages of enhanced plaque distributed on the base, tail and the shoulder were 70.0%, 23.3% and 6.7%, respectively with significant difference (χ2=29.100, P<0.001); the distribution ratio of enhanced plaque from high to low were as follows: the plaque on the shoulder > the plaque on the base> the plaque on the tail. It was positively correlated between enhanced plaque and its distribution (r=0.404, P<0.01). The TTP of the ROI between the malacoplakias and the mixed plaques showed no difference (t=0.479, P>0.05). The PI and DE of the ROI in the malacoplakia and the mixed plaques were analyzed by the time-intensity curve and the differences proved to be statistically significant (t=7.497 and 12.224, P<0.05). Conclusion Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography could present the neovessels in the atherosclerotic plaque, which is helpful in evaluating the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaque.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor(vaspin)level in the diagnosis of nontraumatic osteonecrosis of femoral head(NONFH).Methods A total of 77 NONFH patients hospitalized in Linyi People's Hospital from November 2022 to May 2023 were included in necrotic group,and 76 healthy persons in our hospital during the same period were included in normal group.The general data of two groups were compared,and serum vaspin levels of patients with different clinical characteristics in necrotic group were compared.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to analyze the diagnostic value of serum vaspin in NONFH.Results The serum vaspin level in necrotic group was significantly lower than that in normal group(P<0.05).Serum vaspin levels in patients with bilateral hip disease were significantly lower than those in patients with unilateral hip disease(P<0.05).Serum vaspin levels in patients with femoral head collapse was significantly lower than that in patients without femoral head collapse(P<0.05).The serum vaspin level decreased with the increase of Association Research Circulation Osseous(ARCO)stage(P<0.05).Serum vaspin level was negatively correlated with ARCO stage and visual analogue scale score(P<0.05),but positively correlated with Harris hip score(P<0.05).ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of serum vaspin for NONFH was 0.868(95%CI:0.813-0.923,P<0.001),sensitivity was 82.9%,specificity was 75.3%.Conclusion Vaspin can be used as a potential serum marker for the diagnosis of NONFH.With the progression of NONFH,the serum vaspin level tends to decrease.