Objective To study the value of time intensity curve of contrast enhanced ultrasound in the discrimination of benign and malignant soft tissue tumors. Methods Thirty-seven cases of soft tissue tumors were carried out contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination. The region of interest in the dynamic images were chosen to carry out Gamma-Variate curve fitting through Q-LAB software and made a quantitative analysis. Then they were compared with pathological diagnosis to analyze the ultrasound imaging performance of benign and malignant tumors and their characteristics of micro-irrigation. Results Thirty-seven cases of soft tissue tumors were pathologically diagnosed 21 cases of benign and malignant in 16 cases. The perfusion of benign tumors were mainly uniformity (19/21) or potentialization (2/21). The perfusion of malignant tumors were mainly uniformity (10/16) or nonuniformity (6/16). There were no significant differences in time to peak(TTP) and arrival time of contrast agent(AT) between benign and malignant tumors( P ＞0.05). The upslope rate(A) and the derived peak intensity(DPI) in benign group were significantly less than malignant group ( P ＜0.05). Conclusions Time-intensity curve analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound showed that benign and malignant soft tissue tumors were different in perfusion,and it will be of a certain value for the clinical differential diagnosis.

Objective To evaluate the effects of sevoflurane postconditioning on ischemia-reperfusion injury in chronically-infarcted rat hearts.Methods Left anterior descending coronary artery was ligated to induce myocardial infarction in male Sperague-Dawley rats.Six weeks later,chronically-infarcted hearts were isolated and passively perfused in a Langendorff apparatus.Eighty chronically-infarcted hearts were randomized into 8 groups (n =10 each)∶ Ⅰ-Ⅷ groups.In group Ⅰ,hearts were continously perfused with Krebs-Henseleit (K-H) solution for 90 min.In group Ⅱ,hearts were subjected to 30 min of global ischemia,followed by 60 min of reperfusion.In groups Ⅲ to Ⅵ,hearts were exposed to 30 min of global ischemia,specific phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 15 μmol/L and mitogen-activated extracellular regulated kinase 1/2 (MEK1/2) inhibitor PD98059 20 μmol/L,0.02％ dimethyl sulfoxide,and K-H solution saturated with 3％ sevoflurane were administered,respectively,during the first 15 min of reperfusion,followed by perfusion with plain K-H solution for 45 min.In groups Ⅶ and Ⅷ,hearts were exposed to 30 min of global isehemia,K-H solution saturated with 3％sevoflurane was given during the first 15 min of reperfusion,LY294002 15 μmol/L and PD98059 20 μmol/L were simultaneously administered,respectively,followed by perfusion with plain K-H solution for 45 min.Coronary flow (CF),left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP),± dp/dt,left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded after 20 min of equilibration (baseline,T0),immediately before ischemia (T1),and at 15,30 and 60 min of reperfusion (T2-4).The concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) in the collected coronary effluent were determined at T0 and T4.Acute myocardial infarct size was determined at T4.Left ventricular tissue samples were collected at T2 to measure the phosphorylation of protein kinase B/Akt (PKB/Akt),and extracellular regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and degree of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (rnPTP) opening.Results Compared with group Ⅰ,LVDP,± dp/dt,HR and CF were significantly decreased,LVEDP was increased,the acute myocardial infarct size was enlarged,and the concentrations of LDH and CK-MB in the coronary effluent and degree of mPTP opening were increased during reperfusion in groups Ⅱ-Ⅷ (P ＜ 0.05).LVDP,± dp/dt,HR and CF were significantly higher,LVEDP was lower,the acute myocardial infarct size was smaller,the concentrations of LDH and CK-MB in the coronary effluent were lower,the phosphorylation of PKB/Akt and ERK1/2 was higher,and the degree of mPTP opening was lower during reperfusion in group Ⅵ than in group Ⅱ (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Sevoflurane postconditioning protects chronically-infarcted rat hearts against ischemia-reperfusion injury by activating PI3K-PKB/Akt and MEK1/2-ERK1/2 and inhibiting mPTP opening.

Objective To investigate the role of endometrial thickness,uterine artery and spiral artery blood flow parameters,endometrial and subendometrial blood flow on pregnancy outcome in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycle,compare the difference of the endometrial and subendometrial blood flow typing between the superb micro-vascular imaging (SMI) and power doppler ultrasound (PDUS). Methods Forty-one patients undergoing IVF-ET cycles in our hospital were recruited in this study. Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound was performed to determine and record endometrial thickness,peak systolic velocity(PSV),end diastolic velocity(EDV),pulse index(PI),resistance index(RI), systolic diastolic ratio(S/D) of uterine artery and spiral artery,and degree endometrial and subendometrial blood flow signals were showed under the two blood flow modes of PDUS and SMI respectively on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin(HCG) injection.The degree of the endometrial and subendometrial blood flow was scored using Applehau classification method.According to the pregnancy outcome,patients were divided into pregnancy group and nonpregnancy group,the difference of the above indicators between the two groups were compared,and the degree of endometrial and subendometrial blood flow under two kinds of blood flow mode were observed.Results ①On the day of HCG injection,patients in pregnancy group had lower RI,PI,S/D of spiral artery than those in the nonpregnancy group (P< 0.05). There were no significant difference between the pregnant group and nonpregnant group in endometrial thickness and the blood flow parameters of uterine artery ( P >0.05). ②On the day of HCG injection,there was significant difference between the pregnant group and nonpregnant group in endometrial and subendometrial blood flow degree with SMI mode ( P =0.005).The patients with type Ⅲ in pregnancy group were most (50% ). ③The endometrial and subendometrial blood flow typing (β= 1.085,OR= 1.085,95% CI=1.040 -8.421, P=0.042) of pregnancy group under SMI mode have an independent predictive value.With increased blood flow typing under endometrial and subendometrial blood flow,the higher the possibility of pregnancy in patients.The ROC curve analysis showed that the area under ROC endometrial and subendometrial blood flow typing SMI mode on the HCG day was 0.746( P =0.008).Conclusions SMI is a new and effective type of Doppler ultrasound technique to evaluate the endometrial and subendometrial blood flow in IVF-ET cycle.On the day of HCG injection,the endometrial and subendometrial blood flow typing in SMI mode may predict pregnancy outcomes in IVF-ET cycles,and guide to choose the best embryo transfer time.