Background and purpose:A pre-surgery diagnosis of cervical invasion in endometrial cancer was usually determined by dilatations and curettage(D&C),so it could help in optimizing surgery,but the reliability of D&C still was controversial.This study was to compare MRI with D&C to estimate their accuracy for the diagnosis of cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma respectively.Methods:34 endometrial cancer patients had been proved to have cervical invasion in endometrial cancer through examinations of either fractional dilatations and curettages(D&C),magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)before surgery or postoperative histopathologic examination.The results of D&C and MRI were compared with postoperative histopathologic examination,and the sensitivity,specificity were estimated for accuracy of cervical involvement in endometrial cancer.Results:21 of 34 patients were identified as having cervical invasion in endometrial cancer by histopathology after operation.D&C test matches 26.5% of them and MRI test matches 80%.The sensitivity was 35% vs.76.5% and the specificity 7.7% vs.100% for D&C and MRI methods respectively.All of them had significant statistical differences.Conclusions:MRI test is much better than D&C method for preoperative diagnosis of cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma.

Objective To analyze the value of CT in diagnosing and following-up gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GIST).Methods 117patients with CT examination and histological diagnosis of GIST were retrospectively reviewed.Results 117 patients had 118 GIST.Thelocations of primary tumor were as follows: stomach(n=56),small intestine(n=40),esophagus(n=6),colorectum(n=6),mesentery(n=3),retroperitoneum(n=2) and indefinite origin(n=5).Size of tumor was 1.7~18 cm.Tumors(5 cm) often demonstrated lobulated shape with central low attenuation area and heterogeneous enhancement.There were 17 tumors with bubble,13 with scattered calcifications,12 with metastases of liver.With following-up,23 of 37 were developed local recurrence or hepatic metastases.Conclusion CT is aneffective and useful imaging modality in the diagnosis and follow-up gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Objective To design a set of software Gene_Norm for the data processing of genechips by normalization methods. Methods Hybridization spots were divided into two groups: "good" and "bad". Turn on off spots were extracted from the "bad" spots. Normalization processing of data was performed by using average ratio. Results Application of Gene_Norm in the processing of high density microarray data (10 080 spots, 42 records of each spot) resulted in satisfactory processing results. Conclusion The software of genechip can be used to process large amount of data. Some parameters can be chosen manually, so the software is of simple operation and wide application.

Aim To elucidate the molecular mechanism of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel. Methods Flow cytometry was used to determine the cell cycle changes of MCF-7 cells upon paclitaxel treatment. Gene expression profiles of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel were obtained by using cDNA microarrays containing 9 984 genes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs).Results Cell cycle analysis showed that 77.8% of cells arrested at G2/M phase and 1.3% of cells caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner, which is associated with the regulation of selected genes related to microtubule assembly and cytoskeleton, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair and apoptosis.

Objective To prospectively evaluate the correlation between a single breath-hold three-dimensional (3 D) and several breath-hold two-dimensional (2D) delayed enhancement MR imaging sequences in the assessment of myocardial infarction size and the differences on image quality. Methods Fifteen patients with myocardial infarction underwent MR scan by using a single breath-hold 3D inversion-recovery fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence and several breath-hold 2D turbo-FLASH as the reference standard. Paired-samples t test was used to compare the ratio of the infarction areas in two sequences. Two-way ANOVA was used to assess the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) on 3D,2D magnitude-reconstructed and 2D phase-sensitive (PS) images. P value less than 0.05 was considered to indicate a significant difference. Meanwhile subjective visual evaluation was also performed to compare the image quality. Results The infarction ratio determined by 3D MR imaging 31.28% was no significant difference with that of 2D MR imaging 30.91% and had a good correlation (t = -0.505,P =0.621,r =0.990). The CNR was significantly higher in 3D and 2D magnitude-reconstructed groups than in 2D-PS group (3D and 2D magnitude-reconstructed images, 2D P5 image, 43.43±20.67 and 34.10±14.29, 7.59±2.59, respectively) (F = 24.376, P < 0.01). However, the contrast between normal and infracted myocardium was the highest in 2D-PS group with subjective visual evaluation (scores of 3D, 2D magnitude-reconstructed and 2D-PS images, 2.33, 2.13 and 2.73, respectively). On the other hand, the background noise on 2D-PS images was the highest in 3 groups (scores of 3 D, 2 D magnitude-reconstructed and 2 D-PS images, 2.67, 2.53 and 1.20, respectively). Conclusion The myocardial infarction ratio obtained with 3D MR imaging sequence is accurate, and the image quality is good.

Objective To investigate the ability of electrocardiogram-gated multislice CT(MSCT)in the diagnosis of myocardial bfidging.Methods Fifty-one patients(82 coronary arteries)with suspected coronary artery disease underwent multi-detector row CT,conventional coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasonography as well.The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of MSCT for the detection of myocardial bridging were determined.The interobserver agreement was calculated by using Cohen's Kappa test.Results A total of 26 tunneled arteries exclusively located near the middle segment of left anterior descending coronary artery were found by coronary angiography and intravascular uhrasonography.Compared to the invasive methods,MSCT correctly detected 23 of 26 myocardial bridges with a sensitivity of 88%(23/26),specificity of 96%(52/54)and accuracy of 94%(75/80).The Kappa value for overall interobserver variation Was 0.62.Two myocardial bridges diagnosed by MSCT were missed with the invasive method.With the results of invasive and non-invasive methods combined as the standard of reference,the overall sensitivity.specificity,and accuracy of MSCT in detecting myocardial bridging were 89%(25/28),91%(21/23),and 90%(46/51),respectively.Conclusion As a non-invasive imaging modality,MSCT is feasible and reliable in the detection of myocardial bridging.

Objective To investigate the CT and MRI findings of primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinomas.Methods Imaging findings of 6 patients with pathologically confirmed hepatic neuroendocrine carcinomas were retrospectively analyzed.Four patients underwent plain CT and contrast enhanced CT examinations.The other 2 patients underwent plain MRI and contrast enhanced MRI.Results One out of the 6 cases manifested multicentric tumor which appeared as one large tumor surrounded with multiple small nodules peripherally,and the tumors of the other 5 cases were solitary.On plain CT images,all lesions were well-defined and hypoattenuating with central areas of even lower density except punctuate calcifications at tumor periphery in 1 case.On pre-contrast MRI,the cases manifested heterogeneous low signal intensity on T1 wI and slightly high intensity on T2 WI.On dynamic contrast enhanced CT and MRI,Tumors manifested slight to mild enhancement in arterial phase,slight enhancement in portal venous phase or delayed phase with no enhancement in the center,accompanied by dislocation of surrounding vessels.There Was no lymphadenopathy in peritoneal cavity and retroperitoniurm. Conclusion CT and MRI scanning can demonstrate specific features of primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma,which may help the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the tumor.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of diffusion kurtosis imaging(DKI)in the classification of hepatic fibrosis. Methods Thirty-five male SD rats were randomly divided into two groups:the hepatic fibrosis group(n=28)and the control group(n=7). The rats in hepatic fibrosis group were randomly divided into 4 subgroups and seven rats per group, the rats were administrated 50％ CCl4 intraperitoneally twice a week to establish hepatic fibrosis , and the four subgroups were injected 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks, respectively. The rats in the control group were administrated same dose of olive oil for 8 weeks. One rat in hepatic fibrosis group was died of liver failure in the 7th week, and a total of 27 fibrosis experimental rats and 7 control rats were finally included in this study. DKI was performed at the end of the injection period for all rats, the apparent diffusion(D)and kurtosis(K)values were evaluated. Rats were sacrificed immediately after MRI scan and liver specimens were collected. The liver tissues were examined by pathology, liver fibrosis degree, which was graded from S0 to S4, and inflammatory activity, which was graded from G0 to G3 were graded. The difference of D value and K value between different liver fibrosis and inflammatory activity scores was compared by one-way ANOVA(normal distribution)or Kruskal-Wallis test(skewed distribution). Spearman correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to reveal the correlation between DKI parameters and fibrosis staging/necroinflammatory activity grade. To confirm the efficiency of using the ROC curve of DKI parameters to qualify the liver fibrosis grade, which grade was≥3. Results Seven, 6, 6, 7, 8 rats were diagnosed as S0 to S4, respectively. The difference of D value and K value among different fibrosis grades was statistically significant(P<0.05). D value and the degree of fibrosis was negatively correlated(r=-0.650, P<0.01);K value and liver fibrosis grade no correlation(r=0.336, P=0.080). Thirteen, 6, 8, 7 rats were diagnosed as G0 to G3, respectively. D value was negatively correlated with inflammatory activity(r=-0.590, P=0.001);K value was no correlation with inflammatory activity(r=0.169, P=0.389). Compared with inflammatory activity, fibrosis classification was an independent factor in determining D values(P=0.001). ROC analyses demonstrated an area under the curve(AUC)of D value, K value, D value combined with K value in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis grading ≥ 3 level were 0.781, 0.672 and 0.833, respectlively. The sensitivity and specificity of D value combined with K value were 83.3％ and 75.0％, respectively. Conclusion DKI imaging is of great value in the classification of hepatic fibrosis and can be used as an effective method for the diagnosis of fibrosis.

Objective To assess the MR characterization of coronary microembolization (CME)in an animal model as well as the evolution using MR cardiac cine,first-pass perfusion,and delay enhancement imaging.Methods Coronary microembolization models were established through intracoronary infusion of 120 000 microspheres (42 μm)into the left anterior descending artery in 1 1 pigs. Coronary angiography was performed at baseline and immediately after the injection of microspheres.MR imaging was carried out at baseline,6 hours,and 1 week after microembolization.Then,postmortem evaluation was performed using NBT and HE staining.Re-sults Coronary angiography after the injection of microspheres showed normal-appearing epicardial arteries in all animals.Coronary microembolization caused a significant decline in systolic wall thickening of the microembolized myocardial segments on cine MR ima-ges [from (42.6±2.0)% at baseline to (20.3±2.3)% at 6 hours and (31.5±2.1)% at 1 week after CME;P < 0.001 for both]. First-pass perfusion deficit was visualized at 6 hours after microembolization,and was less pronounced at 1 week.Hyperenhanced myocardium was found on delay enhancement MRI at 6 hours after microembolization in microembolized segments,but was not shown at 1 week. The microinfarcts were detectable microscopically through HE staining but invisible for the naked eye on gross NBT specimen.Con-clusion Coronary microembolization may cause a persistent decline in myocardial contraction and its MR characterization may vary with different stages.A combined use of different cardiac MRI techniques and follow-up examinations may be helpful for evaluating myocardial impairment due to coronary microembolization.

DNA expression profiling using microarray technology has been applied to studies on the molecular classification of lung cancers, pathogenetic alterations in gene expressions and cellular path-ways, prediction of prognosis and metastasis, customized therapies, and drug development. Due to the wide variation in technical factors, different cohorts of patients and biological heterogeneity, the major hur-dle to successful clinical application is lack of robustness, reliability and reproducibility of data. With better standardization and better analytic approaches to cut down the noises from the high dimensionality of data, microarray technologies may be ready to make its way to the doctor's office with contribution to personal-ized treatment of lung cancer in the future.