Objective To investigate the value of ADC histogram analysis in the assessment of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in patients with in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Methods Thirty?five female patients with invasive ductal carcinoma proved by pathology before NACT and treated with operation after NACT were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were received MR examination (including non?enhanced MRI, enhanced?MRI, and DWI) breast before NACT. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 19 of 35 patients were categorized as responders and 16 were categorized as non?responders according response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria. Per?patient weighted ADC histograms were generated. Mean ADC, mode ADC, maximum ADC, minimum ADC, median ADC, skewness, and kurtosis were analyzed by using t test between responders and non responders groups. ROC curves were constructed to determine the optimum threshold for each histogram parameter to differentiate non?responders and responders in breast cancers. The optimal threshold values, determined by maximal Youden index were selected when significant differences existed in two groups. Results Mean, minimum, skewness, and kurtosis of ADC between responders and non?responders group were(0.955 ± 0.135)× 10?3mm2/s,(0.535 ± 0.115)×10?3mm2/s,0.85±0.61, 2.93±0.17,and(1.103±0.233)×10?3 mm2/s,(0.650±0.104)×10?3mm2/s,-0.42± 0.17, 3.11 ± 0.25,respectively. Significant differences were found mean ADC, minimum ADC, skewness, and kurtosis (t=2.345, 3.096, 8.051 and 2.524,P<0.05), and there was no differences in mode, median, maximum between responders and non?responders(P>0.05).We set the optimal threshold criteria of mean ADC (0.956×10?3mm2/s), minimum ADC (0.580×10?3mm2/s), skewness (0.890), sensitivity, specificity of three parameters for predicting responders in LABC were 73.7%,62.5%, 78.9%,68.8%, and 63.2%,75.0%, respectively, and the areas under ROC curve of mean ADC, minimum ADC, skewness was 0.678, 0.770, and 0.890, respectively. Kurtosis of responders and non?responders did not get cutoff value for much more overlap. Conclusion ADC histogram analysis is valuable in predicting LABC in patients with NACT effect, the minimum and skewness of ADC is highest sensitivity, specificity, respectively.

Objective To investigate the value of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)in identification of different molecular sub-types for breast cancer classifications.Methods All patients with breast cancer were divided into four subtypes groups by immuno-histochemistry results including Luminal A subtype,Luminal B subtype,HER2-over expressing (HER2-OE)subtype,and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC),respectively.The means of maximum,average,and minimum ADC of the lesions in all patients were recorded.The analysis of ANOVA and least significant difference test (LSD-t )were used for the statistical evaluation.Results There were significant differences in maximum ADC,average ADC,and minimum ADC among Luminal A subtype (n=21),Lu-minal B subtype (n=22),HER2-OE subtype (n=1 7)and TNBC subtype (n=12)groups (P =0.025,0.039 and 0.041,respec-tively).However,paired comparison in mean of maximum ADC,average ADC and minimum ADC by LSD-t multiple comparisons among Luminal A,Luminal B,HER2-OE and TNBC respectively were not significantly different.Conclusion DWI may be difficult to discriminate the molecular subtypes of breast cancer classification before surgery or biopsy.

Objective To explore the diagnostic performance of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in distinguishing malignant from benign parotid lesions.Methods We prospectively evaluated preoperative SWI findings of 41 patients with 12 malignant and 29 benign parotid lesions by surgical pathology, and explore the intravenous distribution, the largest diameter of veins (dv-max), the number of veins per unit area (N/Svein) and the graduation of intratumoral susceptibility signal intensity (ITSS).The parameters was analyzed by Chi-square test, Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U rank test and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves with SPSS 16.0 software.Results (1) For intravenous distribution, the benign ones mainly distributed around peripheral areas, accounting for 89.7％ (26/29), while the malignant ones were centrally distributed, making up 10/12.There were significant difference (x2=20.882, P=0.000) between benign and malignant ones.(2) The largest diameter of veins (dv-max) of benign and malignant lesions were (1.1±0.5) mm and (2.5 ± 1.0)mm respectively.There were significant difference (t=4.633, P=0.000) between benign and malignant ones.(3) The N/Svein of benign lesions were (0.80±0.92) per cm2, while that of malignant ones are (1.07±0.69) per cm2.The N/Svein (t=0.9143, P=0.367) was statistically insignificant.(4) For the graduation of ITSS,among benign lesions, there were 3 cases of grade 0, 22 cases of grade 1, 2 cases of grade 2 and 2 cases of grade 3.Meanwhile, there were 2 cases of grade 1, 5 cases of grade 2 and 5 cases of grade 3 among malignant lesions.When the Youden index reached the highest point, the optimal diagnostic threshold of dv-max and ITSS values were 1.75 mm and 1.5 mm, the corresponding area under the ROC curve (AUC) were 0.924 and 0.856 respectively.The sensitivity of d and ITSS ondiagnosis were 10/12 and 10/12, and the specificity of that were 96.6％ and 86.2％ respectively.The table shows that the sensitivity and specificity of intravenous distribution in diagnosis of malignant lesions are 10/12 and 89.7％.Conclusions The results provided evidence that SWI may be helpful in distinguishing malignant from benign parotid lesions, and it is worth to be generalized in clinical medicine.

Objective To investigate the association of MRI features with HER-2 expression in non-mass-like breast carcinoma. Methods 74 patients with breast cancers diagnosed by pathology underwent MRI prior to surgery,and all lesions were non-mass-like enhancement on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.The expression of HER-2 in tumor tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining.Chi-square test,Fisher’s exact test and spearman rank correlation were used to evaluate the correlations between the morphological characteristics, dynamic enhanced MR parameters,ADC value and HER-2 expression.Results The tumor size was correlated positively with the expression degree of HER-2 (r=0.341,P =0.003).The ADC value was also correlated positively with the positive expression degree of HER-2 (r=0.31 7,P =0.006).However,the time to peak was correlated negatively with that (r =-0.244,P =0.036).No significant correlations between the distribution/internal enhancement manner,the type of time signal intensity curve and HER-2 expression were found (all P >0.05).Conclusion Tumor size,time to peak and ADC value are correlated with the expression of HER-2 in non-mass-like breast carcinoma,which is helpful for the treatment plan and prognosis evaluation for this cancer.

Objective To determine the utility of single energy CT value and spectrum energy curve in identifying different cause of diffuse spleen enlargement.Methods 43 patients confirmed by either surgical pathology,aspiration biopsy or clinical comprehensive diagnosis and follow-up were assessed,including lymphoma with spleen infiltration(lymphoma group,n=18) and cirrhotic splenomegaly(liver cirrhosis group,n=25).All patients underwent upper abdomen CT scans in GSI mode and the GSI data were transferred to the Workstation AW 4.6 to acquire single energy CT value(40-140 keV,10 keV's interval) and spectrum energy curve of the spleen on the venous phase.All single energy CT values and the slope of curves were comparatively analyzed through independent-samples t test.The diagnostic efficiency were evaluated by ROC analysis.Results Under 40-140 keV energy range,single energy CT values were significantly lower in the lymphoma group than in the liver cirrhosis group(all P＜0.05).The spectrum energy curve were both types of decreasing.Under 40-90 keV,100-140 keV energy range,the slop of curves in the lymphoma group(2.42 ± 0.70,0.27± 0.08) were also significantly lower than in the liver cirrhosis group (3.11 ± 0.62,0.34± 0.07),respectively(all P ＜0.05).When the slope of curve under 40-90 keV energy range was selected as a diagnostic indicator,the area under the curve(AUC) would reach 0.77.If threshold value of 1.39 was taken,the sensitivity and specificity would be equal to 86 ％ and 64 ％,respectively.Conclusion Single energy CT value and spectrum energy curve are helpful for differentiation of lymphoma with spleen infiltration from cirrhotic splenomegaly.

Radiation-induced salivary glands damage is one of the most frequent complications of head and neck cancers after radiation therapy. It leads to a series of symptoms which severely affect the quality of life, such as soreness of mouth, difficult talking, dysphagia and so on. Therefore, it is important to protect the function of salivary glands. In this review, relevant approaches to protecting the function of salivary glands after receiving the radiotherapy are discussed from several aspects,such as radioprotective drugs, radiotherapy technology molecular biology.

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of functional liver imaging score(FLIS)based on preoperative gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid(Gd-EOB-DTPA)enhanced MRI for post-hepatectomy liver failure(PHLF)in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods The data of HCC patients who underwent extensive hepatectomy and preoperative Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI were analyzed retrospectively.The FLIS was scored based on the three features including liver parenchyma enhancement,biliary excretion and portal vein signal enhancement in hepatobiliary phase images,and the consistency between different observers was evaluated.Logistic regression model and receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve were used to analyze the ability of FLIS to predict the PHLF.Results PHLF occurred in 29 of 120 HCC patients(24.2%).The intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC)of FLIS evaluated by two observers was 0.944.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that FLIS was an independent predictor of PHLF of HCC patients[odds ratio(OR)0.520,95%confidence interval(CI)0.355-0.726;P<0.001].The area under the curve(AUC)of FLIS for predicting the PHLF was 0.709,the optimal diagnostic threshold was 4,and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 78.0%and 58.6%.Conclusion Preoperative FLIS can predict the PHLF of HCC patients,which may help to make more accurate treatment plans for HCC patients.