Objective To quantitatively assess left ventricular systolic function in rabbits with dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) by quantitative tissue velocity imaging (QTVI). Methods Thirty rabbits were divided into two groups: group A(adriamycin group) and group B(sodium chloride group). Group A( n = 20) were given adriamycin 2 mg/kg intravenously once a week for eight weeks (total dose, 16 mg/kg) to induce DCM model, group B were given with the same dose of sodium chloride injection solution. Two dimensional echocardiography and QTVI examination were performed in all rabbits before and three weeks after the administration,respectively. Peak systolic velocity(Vs), peak displacement(D) and other common parameters were analyzed. Results Common parameters assessed after administration in group B did not show significant changes. The QTVI curves of left ventricle myocardium were regular and the value of Vs and D decreased gradually from the basal segments to the apical segments after the administration. The diameters of atrium and ventricle of group A increased,while the ejection fraction and fractional shortening of left ventricle decreased significantly ( P <0. 05 or P < 0.01). The pattern of the curves still had the regularity. But Vs and D value decreased significantly ( P <0. 05 or P <0. 01). Pathology of myocardium samples of group A showed the cardiomyocyte changes like dilated cardiomyopathy, while samples of group B had no significant change. Conclusions QTVI can accurately evaluate regional systolic function of left ventricle in rabbits with dilated cardiomyopathy, therefore provides experimental foundation for clinical observation and treatment.

Mandibular symphysis fracture combined with anteromedial dislocated condyle fracture is commom in clinical,but mandibular symphysis fracture associated with superolateral dislocation of the mandibular condyle is rare,which is often misdiagnosed or completely over-looked.Malpractice can lead to ankylosis and other sequelae.This article reviews 10 patients with mandibular symphysis fracture associated with superolateral dislocation of the mandibular condyle,discusses the causative mechanism,diagnostic features and clinical management according to literature data.

Objective To select sonogram features for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid small nodules by Logistics regression analysis,and to contribute the binary Logistic regression model of sonogram features as independent variable and evaluate the value of conventional ultrasonography and ultrasound elastography (UE) in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid small nodules.Methods 166 thyroid nodules (≤ 10 mm) in 140 patients were reviewed and analyzed by 2D ultrasound,color Doppler flow imaging and UE.A Logistic model was obtained based on pathology as golden diagnosis criteria.The odds ratio of variables in the equation were compared to assess various variables,especially the efficacy of elastography in the diagnosis.Results Four statistically significant features were finally entering the Logistic stepwise regression model,including shape,calcification,the internal component of nodules and elasticity score.And the odds ratio of the elasticity score was higher than other features.Conclusions The analysis of binary Logistic regression can select the valuable variables for the diagnosis of pathological nature of thyroid small nodules.UE has much more dominances than other features.The combinated application of UE and 2D ultrasonic features plays a great clinical role in the final diagnosis of thyroid small nodules.

Objective To introduce a new computer-aided technique applicable for myocardial contrast echocardiography(MCE)to quantitate automatically calibrated myocardial contrast intensity(CI)and to test the value of color-coded images of calibrated CI in assessing myocardial perfusion.Methods There were two experimental groups of anesthetized rabbits,which underwent 30 min(group I)and 120 min(groupⅡ)coronary occlusion followed by 60 min reperfusion.MCE was performed on all rabbits during occlusion and after reperfusion,and its images were analyzed by a new computer-aided technique.Myocardial calibrated CI of each segment was measured and a color-coded map was produced automatically by software.The risk areas and infarct sizes obtained by myocardial perfusional defect(MPD)and color-coded map were compared with those by fluorescent microsphere and triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining.Results Compared with non-risk segments,myocardial CI values were significantly decreased in risk segments in group Ⅰ and Ⅱ before calibration (P＜0.01),however,myocardial calibrated CI values were significantly decreased in risk segments in group Ⅱ(P＜0.01)and not different in group Ⅰ after calibration.Calibrated CI in-70 pix was an optimal cutoff point to identify infarcted segments and to yield the sensitivity of 95% and specificity 87%.The correlation between the risk area by MPD and fluorescent staining was 0.84(P=0.003)whereas color-coded map and staining was 0.91 (P＜0.001).The correlation between the infarct size by MPD and TTC was 0.75(P＜0.001),and between color-coded image and TTC was 0.89(P＜0.001).Conclusions MCE with a new computer-aided technique canassess quantitatively myocardial perfusion and identify automatically risk area and infarct region.

Objective To evaluate left ventricular myocardial function of rabbit after ischemiareperfusion using speckle tracking imaging (STI),and to explore the myocardial protect effects of ischemia postconditioning (I-PostC) on reperfusion injury.Methods 24 Japanese rabbits were divided into ischemiareperfusion group (group Ⅰ) and I-PostC group (group Ⅱ) randomly.The characteristic changes of left ventricular global and regional myocardial strain and twist function of two groups were evaluated quantitatively by STI and compared with pathological results.Results ① Global longitudinal systolic strain rate(GLSrsys),global longitudinal systolic strain (GLSsys) and global longitudinal peak strain(GLSp) decreased in both groups,longitudinal systolic strain rate(SrLsys),longitudinal systolic strain(SLsys) and longitudinal peak strain(SLp) in the lateral wall of left ventricle decreased significantly and negative peak of SrLivr and PSI increased after the left ventricular branch of coronary artery was occluded;The values of Ptw and untwR of left ventricle were smaller.② After the artery was released,GLSp recovered in group Ⅱ,which was not seen in group Ⅰ.The values of SrLsys,SLsys and SLp increased significantly and negative peak of SrLivr and PSI decreased in group Ⅱ.However,only Slsys and SLp rebounded in group Ⅰ.Between the 2 groups,SrLsys andSLp in group Ⅱ were higher than that of group Ⅰ (P＜0.05 or 0.01),and SrLivr was lower compared with group Ⅰ (P ＜0.05).In group Ⅱ,Ptw and untwR changed back to a normal range (P ＜0.05 or 0.01),and no index has changed in group Ⅰ ;Between the 2 groups,Ptw and untwR in group Ⅱ were higher than that of group Ⅰ (P ＜0.05).③ The sensitivity and specificity of GLSrsys,GLSsys,SrLsys,SLsys and Ptw to detect rabbit myocardial infarction were 81.3 ％ and 75.0 ％,62.5 ％ and 81.2％,87.5％ and 87.5％,93.8％ and 75.0％,81.3％ and 68.7％ respectively.Conclusions STI may provide a promising approach to evaluate the global and regional myocardial function.It also can observe the protect effects of I-PostC on myocardial reperfusion injury accurately.

Objective To assess the value of wave intensity (WI) on the discrimination of hypertension with concentric hypertrophy and non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(NOHCM).Methods 36 patients with hypertension with concentric hypertrophy,30 patients with NOHCM and 36 healthy volunteers were randomly selected to perform routine ultrasound examination and carotid arterial WI test.The conventional parameters,inlcuding interventricular septal thickness in diastole (IVSTd),left ventricular posterior wall thickness in diastole(LVPWd),left ventricular diameter in diastole(LVIDd) and WI parameters,including the first peak (W1),the second peak (W2),negative area (NA),the interval between the R wave of the ECG and the peak of W1 (R-1st),the interval between the peaks of W1 and W2 (1st-2nd) were archived and compared among the different groups.Results ① There were statistical significances in IVSTd among the three groups(P ＜0.01).LVPWd of hypertension group was obviously higher than that of normal and NOHCM groups (P ＜0.01),but there were no statistical significances in NOHCM and normal groups(P ＞0.05).There were no statistical significances in LVIDd among different groups(P ＞ 0.05).②Compared with the normal group,W1 in NOHCM group increased significantly,whereas W2 and R-1st was much lower (P ＜0.01);W1 and NA in hypertension group was obviously higher(P ＜0.01).W2 and R-1st in NOHCM group were much smaller than those of hypertension group (P＜0.01).③W2 in 850 mmHg · m · s-3 was an optimal cutoff value to identify NOHCM and hypertension and to yield the sensitivity of 78.9％ and specificity of 72.4％.R-1st in 98.5 ms was a cutoff point to discriminate NOHCM and hypertension and to bring the sensitivity 65.8％ and specificity 72.4％.Conclusions WI analysis can effectively distinguish the difference of NOHCM and hypertension and provide a new viewpoint for the discrimination of hypertension with concentric hypertrophy and non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Objective To investigate the left ventricular(LV) systolic hemodynamics and the distribution of blood flow in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM) by vector flow mapping(VFM).MethodsThirty-five random non-obstructive HCM patients(case group) and forty healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled.Peak systolic velocity (Vs),peak systolic flow (Fs) and total systolic negative flow (SQ-) of two groups were compared.Velocity vector,streamline and vortex distribution of two groups were observed.Results Vs,Fs,SQ- of the control group and Vs,Fs of the case group all showed a decreasing trend from the basal segments to the apical segment(P<0.05).SQ- of the case group lost this decreasing tendency.Vs,Fs of all segments and SQ- of the middle and apical segment of the case group were higher than those of the control group.SQ- of the basal segment of the case group were significantly lower than that of the control group(P＜0.01).Distribution of blood flow:The velocity of blood flow was faster in the case group than that in the control group and the direction was disordered.The streamlines of the case group were discontinuous,and vortexes in the case group were more than that in the control group.Conclusions VFM technology could quantitatively evaluate LV systolic hemodynamics in patients with HCM,and can clearly show the distribution of blood flow.

Objective To summarize the characters of the elastograms of different pathological nodules, and to observe the value of elastography in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid solid nodules. Methods One hundred and sixteen patients with thyroid nodules were enrolled in the study and 122 nodules were detected in total. All of them were examined by elastography and conventional ultrasound. Five sonographers were invited to evaluate the nodules double blinded basing on the images and the four-point system proposed by Fukunari. The interobserver agreement was evaluated by Kappa coefficient. Diagnostic performances of the five readers were compared by the ROC curves. Distributions of elastography scores of different pathological nodules were compared by one-way ANOVA. Results Interobserver agreements on scoring the nodules were moderate. Mean value of benign nodules was obvious lower than that of the malignant ones. The mean score of nodular goiters was 2.67 ± 0.89, range from 1 to 3. Most of the adenomas got score of 2, but the score of thyroiditis was quite high. No significant differences were found between the comparison of thyroiditis and thyroid cancers. Areas under the ROC curve (AUC) of the five readers were 0.82,0.81,0.79,0.73 and 0.83 respectively. When 3.5 was choosen as the cut-off point, the sensitivity of elastography was 82.4%, and specificity was 71.6%. Conclusions Elastography was really a useful technique for it can provide a new index for the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules. However, the 4-point score system is not comprehensive enough.

Objective To create a large samples digital database of breast ultrasound imaging (DDBUI),which is open and can be used for scientific research,clinical training and diagnose in order to improve early diagnostic rate of breast cancer by using the database.Methods The database applies structured query language (SQL) to record the integrated resources of patients with breast masses and utilizes Brower/Server (B/S) technology to achieve universal data access.Results The database consists of 853 cases and 5780 images.So far,researchers in home and abroad have done many researches with the images in DDBUI.For example,the speckle reduction,enhancement,segmentation and classification algorithms for computer aided diagnosis (CAD).The database provides a complete shared operation platform for clinical diagnosis and teaching.Conclusions The first public database of breast ultrasound images is created which provides comprehensive information for the development and verification different CAD algorithms,and is helpful for researches,ultrasound diagnosis learning,and improving the breast cancer diagnosis.

Objective To summarize the characteristics of common carotid arterial wave intensity (WI) in healthy volunteers and offer the normal reference values of WI. Methods Common carotid arteries (CCA) in 525 healthy volunteers were examined using Aloka Prosound α10 equipped with wave intensity software. The volunteers were divided into six group according to age,group A,＜20 years old;group B,20 - 29 years old;group C,30 - 39 years old;group D,40 - 49 years old;group E,50 - 59 years old and group F,≥60 years old. Carotid arterial wave intensity in normal subjects had two positive peaks, the first peak,W1 ,and the second peak, W2. Between the two positive peaks, a negative area (NA), the time interval between the R-wave of ECG and the first peak(R-W1 ) and that between the first and second peaks (W1-W2) were observed. Results ① 1050 common carotid arteries in 525 volunteers were studied. The mean values of W1,W2,NA,R-W1,and W1-W2 were (8332±4796) mmHg · m-1 · s-3,(1853±1143)mmHg · m-1 · s-3,(38 ± 26) mmHg · m-1 · s-2, (102 ± 19)ms and (266 ± 42)ms,respectively. ②These values were no significant between the left and right CCA in same group. W1 and NA were correlated with age ( r = - 0. 204 and r = -0.301, P ＜0. 001). W1 and NA in group A and B were significant increased than those in other groups( P ＜0. 05 or P ＜0. 001 ). ③There were statistical significances in W1 and W1-W2 of CCA between male and female. ④There were no statistical significances in all values in common carotid arteries of both sides (P ＞0. 05). ConclusionsWI technique is useful for evaluating the dynamic behavior of the heart and the vascular system and their interaction. W1 is very sensitive to the changes in the working condition of the cardiovascular system.