Objective To evaluate the feasibility of low-tube-voltage, low injection rate, low contrast agent dosage in combination with iterative model reconstruction ( IMR) algorithm in CT angiography ( CTA) of the head-and-neck vessels .Methods Sixty patients who underwent CT angiography of the head-and-neck vessels were randomly divided into groups A and B with 30 cases in each group .Patients in group A received a conventional scan with 120 kVp and filterback projected ( FBP) reconstruction .Patients in group B received a low-dose scan with 80 kVp, and image reconstruction with FBP ( group B1) and IMR (group B2)algorithm.The contrast agent protocol were as follows: the injection time in all patients was 10s, the injection rate was 4.5-5.5 ml/s in group A while 3.5-4.0 ml/s in group B.The CT values of artery, image noise, signal to noise ratio ( SNR) and contrast to noise ratio ( CNR) were measured and compared among three groups with One-way ANOVA analysis . Image quality was evaluated by two radiologists with five scale method , and compared with Kruskal-Wallis test .The CT dose index volume (CTDIvol) and dose length product ( DLP) were recorded and compared between groups with two independent samples t-test.Results The image quality scores of groups A , B1and B2 were 3-5, 2-4 and 3 -5, respectively .Image quality of twelve patients in group B 1 couldn′t meet the diagnostic requirements but none in group A and B 2.The objective image parameters SNR and CNR for group B 2 were equal to group A ( P >0.05), while those for group B1 were lower than group A (t=13.39, 9.45, P<0.05) and group B2 (t=-12.14, -9.96,P<0.05).CTDIvol and DLP for group B were separately 80.9%, 81.3%lower than those of group A(t=39.1, 32.2,P<0.05).The injection rate and contrast agent volume for group B were separately 22.0%, 22.1% lower than those of group A ( t=20.8, 20.8, P<0.01) .Conclusions It is feasible in CT angiography of the head-and-neck vessels with lower tube-voltage, lower injection rate, lower contrast agent dose and combining with iterative model reconstruction algorithm.This protocol can reduce the radiation dose by 81.3% while maintaining image quality .Trial registration Chinese clinical trial registry ,ChiCTR-BOC-16010060.

Objective To compare the accuracy of somatosensory evoked potentials(SSEPs), motor evoked potentials(MEPs), regional cerebral oxygen saturation(rSO2)and multimodal monitoring in monitoring cerebral ischemia in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy(CEA). Methods Eighty American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅱ or Ⅲ patients of both sexes, aged 46-76 yr, scheduled for elective CEA, were enrolled in the study. SSEPs, MEPs and rSO2were monitored during CEA. The event of intraoperative cerebral ischemia was defined as:(1)SSEP escape latency prolongation of 10% and∕or amplitude decrease of 50%;(2)disappearance of MEP amplitude;(3)decrease in rSO2>20% of the baseline value;(4)When multimodal monitoring was applied, the event of intraopera-tive cerebral ischemia could be defined as long as one variable previously described met the condition. The gold standard of perioperative cerebral ischemia was defined as:(1)the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score≥4 at 1, 3 and 5 days after operation than before operation was considered as neurologi-cal dysfunction;(2)cranial CT showed a new ipsilateral cerebral focal ischemia, and postoperative in-tracranial hemorrhage diseases were excluded. Results Five cases developed cerebral ischemia after opera-tion. The sensitivity and specificity of SSEPs in predicting cerebral ischemia were 80% and 83%, respec-tively;MEPs 80% and 80%, respectively; SSEPs+MEPs 100% and 79%, respectively; rSO260% and 93%, respectively;SSEPs+MEPs+rSO2100% and 7%, respectively. Decrease in rSO2> 20% of the base-line value was consistent with SSEP escape latency prolongation of 10% and∕or amplitude decrease of 50%in diagnosis of cerebral ischemia(Kappa value 0.67, P<0.01); decrease in rSO2>20% of the baseline value was consistent with disappearance of MEP amplitude in diagnosis of cerebral ischemia(Kappa value 0.54, P<0.01). Conclusion rSO2has a good agreement with SSEPs and MEPs in diagnosis of cerebral ischemia during CEA; combination of SSEPs and MEPs produces better accuracy in monitoring cerebral is-chemia.

Objective     To compare and analyze the occurrence of acute and chronic pain after subxiphoid and transcostal thoracoscopic extended thymectomy. Methods    A retrospective analysis was performed on 150 patients who underwent thoracoscopic extended thymectomy in our hospital from July 2020 to June 2022, among whome 30 patients received subxiphoid video-assisted thoracic surgery, and 120 patients received transcostal video-assisted thoracic surgery. The patients were matched by the propensity score matching method. Postoperative pain was evaluated by numeric rating scale (NRS). The intraoperative conditions and postoperative pain incidence were compared between the two groups. Results    After matching, 60 patients were enrolled, 30 in each group, including 30 males and 30 females with an average age of 50.78±12.13 years. There was no difference in the general clinical data between the two groups (P>0.05), and no perioperative death. There were statistical differences in the intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage volume, postoperative catheter duration, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative pain on 1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 7 d, 3 months and 6 months after the surgery (P<0.05), but there was no statistical difference in the operation time or the postoperative 14 d NRS score (P>0.05). Further univariate and multivariate analyses for postoperative chronic pain showed that surgical method and postoperative 14 d NRS score were risk factors for chronic pain at the 3 months and 6 months after the surgery (P<0.05). Conclusion     The subxiphoid thoracoscopic extended thymectomy has advantages over transcostal thoracoscopic surgery in the postoperative acute and chronic pain.

The development of gastritis is associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Current invasive gastritis diagnostic methods are not suitable for monitoring progress. In this work based on 78 gastritis patients and 50 healthy individuals, we observed that the variation of tongue-coating microbiota was associated with the occurrence and development of gastritis. Twenty-one microbial species were identified for differentiating tongue-coating microbiomes of gastritis and healthy individuals. Pathways such as microbial metabolism in diverse environments, biosynthesis of antibiotics and bacterial chemotaxis were up-regulated in gastritis patients. The abundance of Campylobacter concisus was found associated with the gastric precancerous cascade. Furthermore, Campylobacter concisus could be detected in tongue coating and gastric fluid in a validation cohort containing 38 gastritis patients. These observations provided biological evidence of tongue diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine, and indicated that tongue-coating microbiome could be a potential non-invasive biomarker, which might be suitable for long-term monitoring of gastritis.