Objective To evaluate the value of dual-source CT angiography for evaluating the degree of coronary stenosis. Methods A total of 110 patients with a high likelihood of coronary stenosis identified by dual-source CT angiography or conventional coronary angiography were enrolled. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of dual-source CT angiography for diagnosis of coronary stenosis were evaluated with conventional coronary angiography as a gold standard. The agreement between dual-source CT angiography and conventional coronary angiography for evaluation of coronary stenosis was evaluated using Kappa statistic. Results A total of 1 401 coronary artery segments from 110 patients were displayed on conventional coronary angiography, while 1 382 segments were successfully visualized in dual-source CT angiography (98.64%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of dual-source CT angiography were 97.9%, 97.3%, 90.4% and 99.4% for diagnosis of coronary stenosis, and there was high consistence between dual-source CT angiography and conventional coronary angiography for grading coronary stenosis (Kappa statistic = 0.87, U = 58.36, P < 0.01). In addition, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of dual-source CT angiography were 94.7%, 96.8%, 83.7%, 99.0% and 96.5% for grading stenosis of coronary artery segments. Conclusion Dual-source CT angiography is accurate and reliable for diagnosis of coronary stenosis, which may be a non-invasive tool for assessment of coronary stenosis.

Objective: To explore the value of nanoparticles (CN) in lateral cervical lymph node mapping in papillary thyroid carcinoma using carbon. Methods: Thyroid cancer patients with suspicious lymph node metastasis but without typical signs of metastatic disease from March 2016 to November 2017 in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center were prospectively included in the cohort. Neck dissection was performed in all patients (compartmentsⅡ-Ⅴ). Suspicious lateral lymph node metastasis was identified using pre-operative ultrasound or computed tomography. CN were used for lymph node mapping during surgery. Results: A total of 70 surgeries were performed in 67 patients, among which 57 were found to have lateral lymph node metastasis (81.4%). The median number of CN-dyed lateral lymph nodes was 6. Compartment IV had the highest number of CN-dyed positive lymph nodes as well as the highest rate of metastasis, followed by compartmentⅢ. In compartmentsⅢandⅣ, the incidence of lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in the CN-dyed group than in the CN-undyed group (P<0.001). When the final pathology of neck dissection was set as the gold standard, lateral CN-dyed lymph node biopsy was found to have a sensitivity of 86.0%; its negative predictive value was 61.9% and its overall accuracy was 88.6%. Conclusions:Injection of CN during surgery was a potential method of mapping lateral lymph nodes in papillary thyroid carcinoma. CompartmentⅢ-ⅣCN-dyed lymph node biopsy had a satisfactory sensitivity and thus, served as a reasonable range for lymph node biopsy.