Ojective To investigate the clinical application value of low dose contrast agent in computerized tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) with spectral CT imaging.Methods Totally 52 patients suspected with pulmonary embolism underwent multi-slice spiral CT pulmonary angiography,and were randomly divided into a control group (n =27) and a research group (n=25).The research group used spectral CT with 35 ml of contrast medium and the control group used 64-slice CT with conventional 80 to 90 ml of contrast medium.The CT values of the pulmonary trunk,left pulmonary artery (LPA),right pulmonary artery (RPA),pulmonary vein and ascending aorta were measured.The contrast to noise ratio (CNR) of the pulmonary artery was also calculated.In addition,the image quality of CTPA was evaluated independently by two experienced radiologists.Results The CT values (HU) of the pulmonary trunk,left pulmonary artery(LPA),right pulmonary artery (RPA) in the research group were (432.2±63.4),(373.5±48.8),(381.4±53.6) and (62.5-±6.4),respectively,and significantly higher than those in the control group,showing statistical differences (P＜0.05).The evaluation results of the CTPA images by two radiologists showed that the image quality in the research group was better than that in the control group (P＜0.05).Conclusion The image quality of pulmonary angiography with spectral CT using low contrast medium dose can be improved compared with the conventional spiral CT.

We conducted a prospective study to assess the non-inferiority of adjuvant chemotherapy alone versus adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) as an alternative strategy for patients with early-stage (FIGO 2009 stage IB-IIA) cervical cancer having risk factors after surgery. The condition was assessed in terms of prognosis, adverse effects, and quality of life. This randomized trial involved nine centers across China. Eligible patients were randomized to receive adjuvant chemotherapy or CCRT after surgery. The primary end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). From December 2012 to December 2014, 337 patients were subjected to randomization. Final analysis included 329 patients, including 165 in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and 164 in the adjuvant CCRT group. The median follow-up was 72.1 months. The three-year PFS rates were both 91.9%, and the five-year OS was 90.6% versus 90.0% in adjuvant chemotherapy and CCRT groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the PFS or OS between groups. The adjusted HR for PFS was 0.854 (95% confidence interval 0.415-1.757; P = 0.667) favoring adjuvant chemotherapy, excluding the predefined non-inferiority boundary of 1.9. The chemotherapy group showed a tendency toward good quality of life. In comparison with post-operative adjuvant CCRT, adjuvant chemotherapy treatment showed non-inferior efficacy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer having pathological risk factors. Adjuvant chemotherapy alone is a favorable alternative post-operative treatment.
Female ; Humans ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Life ; Neoplasm Staging ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant/adverse effects* ; Adjuvants, Immunologic ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies