A new microwave applicator for intracavitary hyperthermia treatment of uterocervical cancer has been designed and tested. Compared with the traditional microwave applicators, the exposed inner conductor of this applicator is replaced by a cone-helical antenna with the reflect shade. We confirm that the heat pattern of the applicator is shifted towards the tip in muscle tissue equivalent phantom material. The result indicates that this new applicator may play an important role in clinical use for treatment.
Equipment Design ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; instrumentation ; Microwaves ; therapeutic use ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; therapy

Objective To investigate the prevalence of feeding intolerance (FI),and to explore the FI within 7 days of ICU admission in association with clinical outcome in critically ill patients.Methods The adult patients from 14 general ICUs in Zhejiang Province with an expected admission to ICU for at least 24h were recruited from March 2014 to August 2014,and all clinical,laboratory,and survival data were prospectively collected.The AGI (acute gastrointestinal injury) grade was daily assessed based on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms,feeding details and organ dysfunction within the first week of ICU stay.The intra-abdominal pressures (IAP) was measured using AbViser device.Results Of 550 patients enrolled,418 were assessed in GI symptoms and feeding details within 7 days of ICU stay.The mean age and SOFA score were (65.1 ± 18.3) years and (8.96 ±4.10),respectively.Of them,355 patients (84.9％) were under mechanical ventilation support,and 37 (8.85％) received renal replacement therapy.The mean length of time for enteral feeding was (30.8 ±26.2) h,and the prevalence of FI on the 3rd and 7th day of ICU stay accounted for 39.2％ and 25.4％,respectively.Compared to those with FI within 7 days of ICU stay,the patients without FI had higher rate of successively weaning from mechanical ventilation (21.3％ vs.5.7％,P =0.003) and higher rate of withdrawal of vasoactive medication (45.5％ vs.20.0％,P =0.037),as well as lower mortality rate of 28-day (24.4％ vs.38.7％,P =0.004) and 60-day (29.6％ vs.44.3％,P =0.005).In multivariate Cox regression model with adjustment for age,sex,participant center,serum creatinine and lactate,AGI grade on the first day of ICU stay,and comorbidities,the FI within 7 days of ICU stay (x2 ≥ 7.24,P ＜ 0.01) remained to be independent predictors for 60-day mortality.After further adjusted for SOFA score,the FI within 7 days of ICU stay (HR =1.71,95％ CI:1.18-2.49;P =0.006) and AGI grade on the first day of ICU stay (HR =1.33,95 ％ CI:1.07-1.65;P =0.009) could provide independent prognostic values of 60-day mortality.Conclusions There is high rate of FI occurred within 7 days of ICU stay,and is significantly associated with worse outcome.In addition,this study also provides evidence to further support that measurement of gastrointestinal dysfunction could increase value of SOFA score in outcome prediction for the risk of 60-day mortality.

Objective:To investigate the effects of oxygen therapy on patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and without hypoxia ,who were treated with emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) .Methods:This study was a sin‐gle‐center ,prospective and randomized controlled study .A total of 143 patients with AMI and without hypoxia ,who were un‐dergoing emergency PCI were divided into oxygen group and control group .The patients in oxygen group inhaled oxygen at a flow rate of 5 L/min via nasal catheter for 24 hours ,the patients in control group inhaled air .Before and after PCI ,the patients in each group received standardized drug treatment (including anti‐thrombotic and anti‐ischemic drugs ,statins and angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors) in Coronary Care Unit (CCU) .The situation of AMI and PCI were observed in the two groups . The clinical data including hospitalization time ,Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) score ,levels of cardiac troponin I(CTnI) ,myocardial‐specific isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK‐MB) and N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (NT‐ProBNP) ,as well as the occurrence rates of cardiac arrhythmias ,cardiogenic shock and death were recorded and ana‐lyzed .Results:There were significant differences (all P<0 .05) between oxygen group and control group in peak concentra‐tions of serum CTnI[33 .40 (22 .10 ,75 .43) ng/mL vs .23 .70 (14 .83 ,45 .45) ng/mL] ,CK‐MB [(252 .70 ± 132 .20)U /L vs .(189 .66 ± 97 .05) U /L] and NT‐ProBNP [810(535 ,1390) pg/mL vs .406(240 ,846)pg/mL] as well as arrhythmia oc‐currence (13 vs .9 cases) .Bute there was no difference in cardiogenic shock ,death and hospitalization time between the two groups(all P>0 .05) .Conclusions:Oxygen therapy may have no benefit and even cause potential myocardial injury for AMI pa‐tients without hypoxia in the process of emergency PCI treatment .