Objective: To observe the diagnostic efficiency of Captopril renal scintigraphy (CRS) for renovascular hypertension (RVH) and the impact of plasma renin activity (PRA). Methods: Plasma levels of PRA, angiotensin Ⅱ (AngⅡ) and aldosterone (ALD) in peripheral blood in orthostatic position and supine position of 35 RVH patients who underwent basic renal scintigraphy and CRS examination were retrospectively analyzed. According to CRS, the patients were divided into positive group and negative group. The levels of PRA, AngⅡ and ALD were analyzed. ROC curve was used to analyze PRA and obtain the minimum threshold. Results: There were 24 cases in positive group and 11 cases in negative group. The orthostatic position PRA in positive group was significantly higher than that in negative group (Z=3.11,P<0.001). The supine position PRA, supine and orthostatic position AngⅡ and ALD were not statistically different between two groups (all P>0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve was 0.84. When the threshold point of PRA was 2.47 ng/(ml·h), the sensitivity and specificity were 83.33% and 81.82%, respectively. Conclusion: Orthostatic position PRA is an important impact factor of diagnostic sensitivity of CRS for RVH. Combining with orthostatic position plasma PRA can improve the value of CRS for diagnosis and treatment of RVH.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of non-contrast-enhanced MR angiography (NCE-MRA) combined with captopril renal scintigraphy (CRS) in the diagnosis of renovascular hypertension (RVH). Methods: A total of 52 patients (33 males, 19 females; age: (54.5±16.3) years) with highly suspected RVH between January 2018 and October 2018 from Henan Provincial People′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The examination data of NCE-MRA, basic renal dynamic imaging, CRS and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were collected and reviewed. The renal artery stenosis (RAS) rate≥70% was the criterion for RVH diagnosed by DSA, which was considered as the gold standard. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of NCE-MRA, CRS and NCE-MRA+ CRS were determined. The consistency between NCE-MRA and DSA was analyzed by Kappa test. The differences of diagnostic efficiencies between CRS and NCE-MRA + CRS were compared by χ² test or Fisher exact test. Results: There was a high consistency between NCE-MRA and DSA in the diagnosis of RVH (Kappa=0.81, 95% CI: 0.62-0.96; P<0.01). The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of NCE-MRA were 88.89%(24/27), 92.00%(23/25), 90.38%(47/52), 92.31%(24/26), and 88.46%(23/26) respectively, those of CRS were 81.48%(22/27), 72.00%(18/25), 76.92%(40/52), 75.86%(22/29) and 78.26%(18/23) respectively, and those of NCE-MRA+ CRS were 74.07%(20/27), 100%(25/25), 86.54%(45/52), 100%(20/20) and 78.12%(25/32) respectively. Compared with CRS, the specificity (P=0.01) and PPV (P=0.03) of NCE-MRA+ CRS in the diagnosis of RVH were increased. Conclusion NCE-MRA and CRS are effective in the diagnosis of RVH, and the combination of two methods can significantly improve the diagnostic specificity and PPV than CRS alone.

With the rapid development of biomedicine and molecular imaging, multimodal and multiscale imaging have gradually become one of the mainstreams in biomedical imaging. It can provide one or multiple imaging contrast including optical, ultrasonic, photoacoustic, magnetic and radionuclide characteristics, and create multiscale images of living organism ranging from single molecules, cells, tissues and living animals. Therefore, multifunctional contrast agents for multimodal and multiscale imaging have been designed and developed. Lanthanide-doping upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are a novel type of phosphor that can convert low-energy near-infrared photons into a high-energy one, which are located in the ultraviolet, visible or near-infrared region. UCNPs provide a new platform for the development of multimodal contrast agents and have been widely used in the field of multimodal imaging. In this review, recent progress of lanthanide-doping UCNPs in multimodal and multiscale imaging is summarized.

Objective To investigate the change of thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) level in patients with TgAb-positive papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC),and explore the relationship between the variation of TgAb level and prognosis.Methods A total of 817 PTC postoperative patients (254 males,563 females,median age 45 years) who underwent radioactive iodine therapy (RAI) from February 2008 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.There were 130 patients with TgAb (+),and 687 patients with TgAb (-).The dynamic changes of TgAb in 3 years after RAI were observed,and the threshold value of TgAb reduction rate in predicting recurrence/metastasis was plotted.Mann-Whitney u test,x2 test and receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve analysis were used to analyze the data.Results There were statistically significant differences in gender,concurrent with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT),risk stratification and recurrence/metastasis between TgAb (+) and TgAb (-) groups (x2 values:13.988-191.059,z =2.053,all P＜0.05).There were statistically significant differences in tumor size,extrathyroidal extension,risk stratification,TgAb before RAI and concurrent with HT between TgAb (+) patients with and without recurrence/metastasis (x2 values:3.865-6.278;z values:4.624,3.641,all P＜0.05).There were statistically significant differences in tumor size,extrathyroidal extension,risk stratification and TNM staging between TgAb (-) patients with and without recurrence/metastasis (x2 values:13.459,8.215,z values:5.385,3.998;all P＜0.05).For patients with TgAb (+),the optimum cut-off threshold of TgAb reduction rate in predicting recurrence/metastasis by ROC curve analysis at 1,2 and 3 years after RAI was 54.0％,38.0％ and 59.0％,respectively,and the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) was 0.847,0.815 and 0.822,respectively.Conclusions The trend of the TgAb after RAI is related to the prognosis of patients.Patients with TgAb decreased ≥54.0％,≥38.0％,≥59.0％ after 1,2,3 years post-RAI may have better prognosis.

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value of quantitative 99Tc m-hydrazinonicotinamide(HYNIC)-prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) SPECT/CT in patients with prostate cancer. Methods:From November 2018 to March 2021, the data of 56 patients ((69.8±8.0) years) with clinically suspected prostate cancer, who had elevated radioactive uptake in prostate on 99Tc m-HYNIC-PSMA SPECT/CT images in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed. According to the pathological results, patients were divided into prostate cancer group ( n=45) and non-prostate cancer group ( n=11). The xSPECT-QUANT software was used to quantitatively analyze the high uptake area of the prostate, and SUV max was measured. The independent-sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, ROC curve and Spearman correlation analysis were used for data analysis. Results:The prostate cancer group had higher SUV max than non-prostate cancer group (10.79±5.96 vs 3.60±1.27; t=7.43, P<0.001). When SUV max≥6.46, the AUC of prostate cancer was 0.887, with the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of 73.3%(33/45), 11/11, 100%(33/33), 47.8%(11/23), 78.6%(44/56), respectively. The SUV max of prostate cancer group was positively correlated with Gleason score ( rs=0.632, P<0.001). The SUV max of 29 patients with Gleason score≥8 was higher than that of 16 patients with Gleason score≤7 ( z=-3.89, P<0.001). There was no statistical difference in PSA level between patients with Gleason score≤ 7 and patients with non-prostate cancer ( z=-1.63, P=0.110), but the SUV max was significantly different ( z=-2.22, P=0.026). The SUV max of 23 patients with metastases was higher than that of 22 patients without metastasis (12.99±5.85 vs 8.50±5.28; t=2.69, P=0.010). ROC analysis showed that the AUC was 0.709; with SUV max≥13.02 as the threshold, the sensitivity for diagnosing prostate cancer metastases was 56.5%(13/23), the specificity was 86.4%(19/22), and the accuracy was 71.1%(32/45). Conclusions:The 99Tc m-HYNIC-PSMA SPECT/CT quantitative analysis is feasible in patients with prostate cancer. SUV max of 99Tc m-HYNIC-PSMA can be used in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, assessment of the malignancy and prediction of metastasis.