Objective To summarize the CT characteristics of tumor deposition adjacent to colorectal cancer (CRC),and provide the evidences for differential diagnosis.Methods The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 26 CRC patients who were admitted to the Wuxi Second People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from May 2015 to April 2017 were collected.Patients underwent preoperative multi-slice spiral CT scan and double-phase enhanced scan,and then received open surgery.Observation indicators:(1) characteristics of multi-slice spiral CT scan;(2) differential comparisons;(3) follow-up.Follow-up using telephone interview was performed to detect patients' prognosis once every 3 months up to May 2017.Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as (x)±s.Comparisons between groups and among groups were respectively analyzed using the t test and the one-way ANOVA.Pairwise comparison was done using the SNK method.Results (1) Characteristics of multi-slice spiral CT scan:of 26 patients,17 underwent double contrast enhanced scans of chest,abdomen and pelvic and 9 underwent double contrast scans of abdomen and pelvic.Primary tumors of 18 and 8 patients respectively located in the colon and rectum.Forty-one tumor deposits of 26 patients were collected,with number of tumor deposits of 1.6±0.9 per case,and number of tumor deposits ＜ 3 and ≥3 respectively were found in 20 and 6 patients.Tumor deposits were often isolated in the fat spaces around the rectum or colon and unconnected with the surrounding primary tumor or lymph node.Distance to the center of primary tumor was (2.6±l.0)cm (range,0.2-5.0 cm),the distance ＜2.6 cm and ≥2.6 cm were respectively detected in 22 and 19 patients.Thirty-three tumors showed signs of lobulation,22 showed signs of burr and 7 showed liquefaction necrosis,and there was a combination of multiple imaging characteristics in the same tumor deposit.The maximum width,minimum width,maximum diameter,plain scan value of CT,CT enhancement values in the arterial phase and venous phase in 41 tumor deposits were respectively (1.15 ± 0.60)cm,(1.11±0.44)cm,(1.13±0.49)cm,(27±13)HU,(28±14)HU and (49±19)HU.Of 41 tumor deposits,34 demonstrated homogeneous density in the plain scan,and obviously enhancement in early enhanced scan,with homogeneous enhancement;7 demonstrated heterogeneous density in the plain scan,with internal liquefaction necrosis,and enhanced scans showed no enhancement in the areas of necrosis and obviously early enhancement in the areas of non-necrosis.(2) Differential comparisons:26 patients underwent open surgery,including 8 with right hemectomy,2 with transverse colon resection,4 with left semicolon resection,2 with simple sigmoid resection,2 with abdominoperineal resection of rectal cancer and 8 with low anterior rectal resection,and all patients received postoperatively individualized treatment.Fifty-two lymph nodes with distance to center of primary tumor ＜ 5.0 cm that were confirmed by pathological examination were collected,including 19 metastatic lymph nodes.Of 41 tumor deposits,33 were irregular,and 8 were regular and round-like or oval-like shape.Of 19 metastatic lymph nodes,16 were regularly round-like shape,1 showed irregular shape and edge blur,and 2 were irregular with a mutual integration.The maximum width,minimum width and maximum diameter of 19 metastatic lymph nodes were respectively (1.09± 0.33) cm,(1.01 ± 0.23) cm and (1.05 ± 0.20) cm,with statistically significant differences in the above indicators between metastatic lymph nodes and tumor deposits (t =5.48,4.80,7.75,P＜0.05).The plain scan value of CT,CT enhancement values in the arterial phase and venous phase were respectively (12±7) HU,(18± 12) HU,(42± 15) HU in 19 metastatic lymph nodes and (33±6) HU,(31 ±15) HU,(53± 14)HU in 26 primary tumors,showing statistically significant differences in the plain scan value of CT and CT enhancement values in the arterial phase among tumor deposits,metastatic lymph nodes and primary tumors (F=24.43,4.46,P＜0.05),and no statistically significant difference in CT enhancement value in the venous phase (F=2.41,P＞0.05).There were statistically significant differences in the plain scan value of CT and CT enhancement values in the arterial phase between tumor deposits and metastatic lymph nodes (q =5.48,2.50,P＜0.05) and between metastatic lymph nodes and primary tumors (q =6.82,2.84,P＜0.05),and no statistically significant difference between tumor deposits and primary tumors (q =2.15,0.65,P＞0.05).Of 19 metastatic lymph nodes,11 demonstrated homogeneous density in plain scan,with a lower density compared with tumor deposits and primary tumors,and relatively homogeneous enhancement in the arterial phase of enhanced scan;8 demonstrated heterogeneous density with internal liquefaction necrosis,and ring-shaped enhancement in enhanced scan with no enhancement in the areas of necrosis.The density and enhancement range in the arterial phase and venous phase of tumor deposits were similar to primary tumors.(3) Follow-up:24 patients were followed up for 1-25 months,with a follow-up rate of 92.3％(24/26) and a median time of 17 months.Of 24 patients,2 were dead,and survival time were respectively 9 months and 21 months;22 had good survival.Conclusions Multislice spiral CT examination of tumor deposits demonstrates larger and irregular shape,with the signs of lobulation and burr,and the density in plain scan is similar to the primary tumor,with obviously enhancement in early enhanced scan.The metastatic lymph nodes are mostly round-like shape,diameter is smaller than that of tumor deposits,density in the plain scan and CT enhancement values in the arterial phase are lower than that of tumor deposits.

Objective To observe the distribution and variation of right colonic vessels,and investigate the clinical value of computed tomography angiography (CTA),computed tomography colonography (CTC) and image fusion technology in preoperative evaluation of laparoscopic right colonic cancer (RCC).Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 38 patients who underwent laparoscopic extended radical resection of RCC + D3 lymphadenectomy in the Affiliated Wuxi Second People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between January 2015 and July 2017 were collected.Patients received preoperative plain and enhanced scans of abdominal and pelvic CT.The original images were reconstructed and fused by CTA and CTC,and then coming out with three-dimensional images of blood vessels and gut.Observation indicators:(1) branches of superior mesenteric artery (SMA);(2) positional relationship between SMA and superior mesenteric vein (SMV);(3) composition of gastrocolic venous trunk.Results Scan images of 38 patients had fused with scan images of vessels and primary tumors and reached the diagnostic standard,with a good imaging performance.Distribution of blood vessels of virtual reality (VR) images and were compared with that of naked blood vessels under intraoperative laparoscopy,showing a coincidence rate of 100.0％ (38/38).(1) Branches of SMA:results of CTA and intraoperative anatomy showed that the occurrence rate of the right colonic artery,middle colonic artery and ileocolic artery were respectively 94.7％ (36/38),92.1％ (35/38) and 100.0％ (38/38).A right colonic artery was found in 28 patients.Ten patients had structure variation of right colonic artery,including 3 with 2 right colonic arteries and 2 without right colonic artery.The right colonic artery and middle colonic artery merged into the same trunk and then flowed into SMA were detected in 2 patients;the right colonic artery and ileocolic artery merged into the same trunk and then flowed into SMA were detected in 3 patients.(2) Positional relationship between SMA and SMV:results of CTA and intraoperative anatomy showed that the occurrence rate of both SMA and SMV was 100.0％ (38/38).The SMA in 20 patients was located in the ventral side of SMV;SMA in 18 patients was located in the dorsal side of SMV.(3) Composition of gastrocolic venous trunk:results of CTA and intraoperative anatomy showed that 29 of 38 patients had gastrocolic venous trunks,which belonged to four sources,including right colonic vein,middle colonic vein,fight gastric epiploic vein and anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal vein.Among 29 patients,18 had 2-or 3-branch type of gastrocolic trunk that consisted of the right gastric epiploic vein,middle colonic vein and right colonic vein;3 had 2-branch type of gastric pancreatic trunk that consisted of the right gastric epiploic vein and anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal vein;8 had 3-or 4-branch type of stomach-pancreas-colon trunk that consisted of right gastric epiploic vein,anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal vein,right colonic vein and middle colonic vein.Conclusion CTA,CTC and image fusion technology can intuitively show the anatomy and variation of right colonic vessels,with a high clinical value.

Objective:To investigate the application value of 3D printing technology in preoperative evaluation of laparoscopic radical resection of right colon cancer.Methods:The prospective study was conducted. The clinical data of 60 patients with right colon cancer who were admitted to the Affiliated Wuxi Second People′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January to November of 2019 were collected. Patients were randomly divided into two groups by random number method. All the 60 patients were examined by plain scan and enhanced X-ray computed tomography (CT) preoperatively. Patients with vascular images printed into a 1∶1 full simulation entity using the 3D printing technology were divided into 3D printing group, and patients who only completed the plain scan and enhanced CT examination were divided into control group. All the 60 patients underwent laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision for right colon cancer. Observation indicators: (1) anatomic courses of Henle trunk of the 3D printing group in the preoperative 3D printing models and their consistency with intraoperative anatomic courses; (2) intraoperative and postoperative situations of two groups. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the independent-sample t test. Count data were expressed as absolute numbers or percentages, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test. Results:A total of 60 patients were selected for eligibility, including 42 males and 18 females, aged (64±7)years, with a range from 44 to 78 years. Of the 60 patients, 30 were in the 3D printing group and 30 were in the control group. (1) Anatomic courses of Henle trunk of the 3D printing group in the preoperative 3D printing models and their consistency with intraoperative anatomic courses: Henle trunk was observed in 28 of the 30 patients in the 3D printing group. Of the 28 patients, 7 had the gastropancreatic trunk of 2 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein and the superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein, 13 had the gastrocolonic trunk of 2 or 3 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the middle colonic vein and (or) the right colonic vein (including 4 cases with gastrocolonic trunk of 2 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein and the middle colonic vein, 6 cases with gastrocolonic trunk of 2 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein and the right colonic vein, 3 cases with gastrocolonic trunk of 3 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the middle colonic vein and the right colonic vein), 8 had the gastropancreaticocolonic trunk of 3 or 4 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein, the right colonic vein and (or) the middle colonic vein (including 4 cases with gastropancreaticocolonic trunk of 3 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein and the middle colonic vein, 2 cases with gastropancreaticocolonic trunk of 3 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein and the right colonic vein, 2 cases with gastropancreaticocolonic trunk of 4 branches formed with the right gastroepiploic vein, the superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein, the right colonic vein and the middle colonic vein). The consistency of anatomic courses of Henle trunk of the 28 patients in the preoperative 3D printing models with intraoperative anatomic courses of bared Henle trunk was 100%(28/28). (2) Intraoperative and postoperative situations of two groups: the operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, the numbers of lymph node dissected, cases with postoperative complications (cases with incision infection, cases with intestinal obstruction, cases with anastomotic leakage, cases with pulmonary infection), postoperative duration of hospital of the 3D printing group were (147±18)minutes, (79±29)mL, 19.1±2.8, 3 (1, 1, 0, 1), (9.0±2.5)days, respectively. The above indicators of the control group were (172±16)minutes, (118±17)mL, 15.6±2.6, 4(1, 1, 1, 1), (9.1±2.6)days, respectively. There were significant differences in the operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, the numbers of lymph node dissected between the two groups ( t=-5.630, -18.400, 3.318, P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the cases with postoperative complications and postoperative duration of hospital between the two groups ( χ2=0.875, t=0.103, P>0.05). Conclusion:For laparoscopic right colon cancer radical resection, 3D printing technology can effectively evaluate the preoperative vascular anatomic courses, which can shorten operation time, reduce volume of intraoperative blood loss and improve the number of lymph node dissected. Trial Registration: This study was registrated at Chinese Clinical Trail Registry with the registration number of ChiCTR1800017161.

Objective:To investigate the risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) and the application value of its risk scoring model.Methods:The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 149 patients with HCC who were admitted to two medical centers, including 97 cases in the Jiangnan University Medical Center and 52 cases in the Affiliated Xingtai People′s Hospital of Hebei Medical University, from January 2017 to April 2020 were collected. There were 116 males and 33 females, aged (58±12)years. There were 74 cases with VETC and 75 cases without VETC. Observation indica-tors: (1) clinical characteristics of patients with and without VETC; (2) imaging features of patients with and without VETC; (3) multivariable analysis of HCC patients with VETC; (4) construction of VETC related risk scoring model and its performance evaluation; (5) postoperative early tumor recurrence of patients with and without VETC who were confirmed by risk scoring model and histopathological examination. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was conducted using the t test. Count data were described as absolutes, and comparison between groups was conducted using the chi-square test and continuous correction chi-square test. Variables of clinical and imaging characteristics with statistically signifi-cant were included in the multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis was conducted using the Logistic regression model of backward stepwise selection. VETC related risk scoring model was constructed based on the results of Logistic regression model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn, and the area under curve (AUC), the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and their 95% confidence interval ( CI) were calculated. The maximizing Youden index was the optimal cutoff value for VETC prediction. The Hosmer Lemeshow goodness of fit test was used to assess the consistency between VETC risk scoring model predicted VTEC status and the true VETC status. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival rates and draw survival curves. The Log-rank test was used for survival analysis. Results:(1) Clinical characteristics of patients with and without VETC. Cases with postoperative albumin <36 g/L were 57 in patients with VETC, versus 68 in patients without VETC, respectively, showing a significant difference between them ( χ2=5.13, P<0.05). (2) Imaging features of patients with and without VETC. Cases with lesion imaging presence as nonperipheral washout, cases with lesion imaging presence as mosaic architecture, cases with lesion imaging presence as intratumoral hemorrhage, cases with lesion imaging presence as corona enhancement, cases with lesion imaging presence as non-smooth tumor margin, cases with lesion imaging presence as peritumoral enhancement in arterial phase, cases with lesion imaging presence as intratumoral arteries, cases with lesion imaging presence as peritumoral hypointensity in hepatobiliary phase, cases with lesion imaging enhancement type as uniform low enhancement, uniform high enhance-ment, heterogeneous enhancement with septations and heterogeneous enhancement with irregular ring-like structures, cases with intratumoral necrosis or ischemic, cases with tumor diameter >5 cm were 73, 35, 33, 15, 39, 28, 42, 27, 4, 5, 27, 38, 45, 46 in patients with VETC, versus 64, 16, 13, 3, 19, 15, 9, 13, 9, 35, 5, 26, 10, 10 in patients without VETC, respectively, showing significant differences in the above indicators between them ( χ2=8.92, 11.15, 12.97, 9.28, 11.74, 5.77, 33.14, 6.96, 41.79, 36.05, 37.86, P<0.05). (3) Multivariable analysis of patients with VETC. Results of multivariable analysis showed that lesion imaging enhancement as heterogeneous enhancement with septations, lesion imaging enhancement as heterogeneous enhancement with irregular ring-like structures, intratumoral necrosis or ischemia and tumor diameter >5 cm were independent risk factors influen-cing patients with VETC ( odds ratio=4.18, 7.62, 4.23, 4.08, 95% CI as 1.60?11.60, 2.00?31.70, 1.71?10.90, 1.60?10.80), P<0.05). (4) Construction of VETC related risk scoring model and its performance evaluation. The VETC related risk scoring model was constructed as (heterogeneous enhancement with septations, presence: 1.0, absence: 0)+(heterogeneous enhancement with irregular ring-like structures, presence: 1.5, absence: 0)+(intratumoral necrosis or ischemia, presence: 1.0, absence: 0)+(main tumor diameter >5 cm, presence: 1.0, absence: 0). The AUC, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of VETC related risk scoring model were 0.86 (95% CI as 0.80?0.92), 79.7% (95% CI as 69.2%?87.3%), 80.0% (95% CI as 69.6%?87.5%) and 79.9% (95% CI as 72.7%?85.5%), respectively. Results of Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test showed a good consistency between VETC risk scoring model predicted VETC status and true VETC status ( P>0.05). (5) Postoperative early tumor recurrence of patients with and without VETC who were confirmed by risk scoring model and histopathological examination. All 149 patients were followed up for 29(range, 26?35)months. The time to tumor recurrence and 2-year cumulative tumor recurrence rate of 149 patients were 29(range, 24?33)months and 43.0%, respectively. The 2-year tumor cumulative recurrence rate of patients with and without VETC predicted by risk scoring model was 47.8% and 37.9%, respectively, showing a significant difference between ( χ2=3.90, P<0.05). The 2-year cumulative tumor recurrence rate of patients with and without VETC confirmed by postoperative histopathological examination was 47.4% and 38.1%, respectively, showing a significant difference between ( χ2=4.20, P<0.05). Conclusions:Lesion imaging enhancement as heterogeneous enhancement with septations or irregular ring-like structures, intratumoral necrosis or ischemia and tumor diameter >5 cm are independent risk factors influen-cing HCC patients with VETC. The proposed risk scoring model based on those three risk factors achieves an optimal preoperative diagnostic performance.

Objective: To explore the value of computed tomography angiography (CTA) and image fusion technology in preoperative evaluation of laparoscopic radical resection of rectal cancer. Methods: The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 60 patients who underwent laparoscopic radical resection of rectal cancer in the Affiliated Wuxi Second People′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from February 2018 to March 2019 were collected. There were 39 males and 21 females, aged from 45 to 81 years, with an average age of 67 years. All patients underwent abdominal multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) plain scan and dual-phase enhanced scan before operation. The original CT images were observed by multiplanar reconstruction and performed three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of blood vessels by volume rendering. The CT images of arterial vessels with large density difference were abstracted by threshold segmentation and direct abstraction, and the CT images of venous vessels with small density difference were abstracted by region growing method. Then the 3D images of blood vessels were obtained after image fusion with red and blue pseudocolor added. All the 60 patients were performed laparoscopic radical resection of rectal cancer by the same surgical team, and were identified inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) and branches after being bared vessels, including anatomic course of left colonic artery (LCA), sigmoid artery (SA), and superior rectal artery (SRA). Observation indicators: (1) anatomic courses of IMA, LCA, SA, and SRA on the 3D images and their consistency with intraoperative anatomic courses; (2) the first branch of IMA and the distances from the root of IMA to the first branch and from the root of IMA to bifurcation point of the abdominal aorta on 3D images of blood vessels; (3) the spatial relationship between the horizontal level of LCA and the inferior mesenteric vein (IMV) on the 2D CT images and 3D images of blood vessels. Measurement data were represented as Mean±SD, and count data were represented as absolute numbers and percentages. Results: (1) Anatomic courses of IMA, LCA, SA and SRA on the 3D images and their consistency with intraoperative anatomic courses: of the 60 patients, 31 (51.7%) had type Ⅰ anatomic course of IMA on the 3D images, with LCA and SA from the common trunk; 9 (15.0%) had type Ⅱ, with LCA and SA from the common trunk; 18 (30.0%) had type Ⅲ, with LCA, SA, and SRA from the common trunk; 2 (3.3%) had type Ⅳ, with no LCA. The consistency of anatomic courses of IMA, LCA, SA, and SRA on the 3D images with intraoperative anatomic courses of bared IMA, LCA, SA, and SRA was 100.0%(60/60). (2) The first branch of IMA and the distances from the root of IMA to its first branch and from the root of IMA to the bifurcation point of abdominal aorta on 3D images of blood vessels: of the 60 patients, 49 (81.7%) had LCA as the first branch of IMA, 11 (18.3%) had SRA or SA as the first branch of IMA. The distances from the root of IMA to its first branch and from the root of IMA to the bifurcation point of abdominal aorta on 3D images of blood vessels were (41±6)cm and (42±7)cm. (3) The spatial relationship between the horizontal level of LCA and the IMV on the 2D CT images and 3D images of blood vessels: two patients of type Ⅳ were excluded from the 60 patients. On the 2D CT images of the rest 58 patients, 39 (67.2%) had LCA adjacent to IMV and 19 (32.8%) had LCA distal to IMV at the horizontal level of IMA root. On the 3D images of blood vessels in the rest 58 patients, 37 (63.8%) had the LCA located at the ventral side of IMV, and 21 (36.2%) had the LCA located at the dorsal side of the IMV. Conclusion Muiti-slice CTA and image fusion technology can visually display the anatomic course and variation of IMA and its branches, which has high clinical application value.