Objective:To investigate the short-term efficacy and safety of cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) in patients with heart failure.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study of patients with heart failure who underwent CCM placement at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from February to June 2022. With a follow-up of 3 months, CCM sensation, impedance, percent output, and work time were monitored, and patients were compared with pre-and 3-month postoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) values, and 6-minute walk test distance and New York Heart Association (NYHA) cardiac function classification, and the occurrence of complications was recorded.Results:CCM was successfully implanted in all 9 patients. Seven(7/9) of them were male, aged (56±14) years, 3 patients had ischaemic cardiomyopathy and 6 patients had dilated cardiomyopathy. At 3-month postoperative follow-up, threshold was stable, sense was significantly lower at follow-up than before (right ventricle: (16.3±7.0) mV vs. (8.2±1.1) mV, P<0.05; local sense: (15.7±4.9) mV vs. (6.7±2.5) mV, P<0.05), and impedance was significantly lower at follow-up than before (right ventricle (846±179) Ω vs. (470±65) Ω, P<0.05, local sense: (832±246) Ω vs. (464±63) Ω, P<0.05). The CCM output percentage was (86.9±10.7) %, the output amplitude was (6.7±0.4) V, and the daily operating time was (8.6±1.0) h. LVEF was elevated compared to preoperative ((29.4±5.2) % vs. (38.3±4.3) %, P<0.05), the 6-minute walk test was significantly longer than before ((96.8±66.7)m vs. (289.3±121.7)m, P<0.05). No significant increase in the number of NYHA Class Ⅲ-Ⅳ patients was seen (7/9 vs. 2/9, P>0.05). The patient was not re-hospitalised for worsening heart failure symptoms, had no malignant arrhythmic events and experienced significant relief of symptoms such as chest tightness and shortness of breath. No postoperative complications related to pocket hematoma, pocket infection and rupture, electrode detachment, valve function impairment, pericardial effusion, or cardiac perforation were found. Conclusions:CCM has better short-term safety and efficacy in patients with heart failure.

Objective To explore the clinical application value of semiconductor laser combined with flat-panel CT guidance in foramen ovale puncture for trigeminal neuralgia(TN).Methods A total of 86 patients with primary TN were selected and randomly divided into control group(n=43)and observation group(n=43).The control group used empirical manual puncture,and the observation group used semiconductor laser combined with flat-panel CT-guided radiofrequency ablation.The first puncture success rate,puncture success time,total operation time,and intraoperative flat-panel CT scan times were carefully evaluated.Results The puncture success time,total operation time,and intraoperative flat-panel CT scan times in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05).In addition,the first puncture success rate and surgical efficiency 12 months after surgery were significantly improved(P＜0.05).The incidence of facial congestion in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group(P＜0.05),but there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of chewing weakness,cerebrospinal fluid leakage,and intracranial infection between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion Minimally invasive foramen ovale puncture under the guidance of semiconductor laser combined with flat-panel CT for the treatment of TN has the advantages of simple operation,accurate positioning,low risk,and few complications,with important clinical application value.

BACKGROUND:Nowadays,there are increasing reports on the digitization and visualization system of acupuncture points for adults in traditional Chinese medicine,and the digitization and visualization system of acupuncture points for children in traditional Chinese medicine and the simulation system of acupuncture manipulation for Mongolian medicine training have been reported.However,there are no reports on relevant systems for children in Mongolian medicine. OBJECTIVE:To develop a simulation system of acupuncture points for children in Mongolian medicine,in the hope that it can be used for clinical teaching,manipulation practice and research on acupuncture safety. METHODS:Based on the tomographic anatomical dataset of preschool boys,a three-dimensional(3D)digital virtual anatomical model of children with multiple internal organs and tissues was constructed by using PhotoShop.2021 and Digihuman Reconstruction System software.The relevant annotation information database of 27 acupoints such as Dinghui acupoint of Mongolian medicine was compiled by the Unity database language.The Mongolian gold needle and silver needle were selected to record the acupuncture point teaching video on the 3D printed head and neck resin model of children.In Unity3D software,children's anatomical model,acupoint annotation information database and acupuncture operation video were integrated and coded,and a 3D digital children's Mongolian acupuncture acupoint visualization system integrating simulation acupuncture training,clinical teaching and acupuncture safety research was successfully created. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:This study was based on real children's specimens.In order to reduce the error of two-dimensional segmentation,the manual layer-by-layer segmentation section image method was used to ensure the accuracy of the 3D model to the greatest extent.The Digihuman Reconstruction System was used to extract and save the individual segmentation data while maximizing the accuracy of the 3D model.PhotoShop.2021 software was used to complete the 3D reconstruction of the outer skin of the head and neck of children and the internal bony structure,cervical spinal cord,blood vessels and nerves,muscles and ligaments.After 3D reconstruction,the basic morphology of each independent structure and the integrity of the overall contour were verified in MeshLab software and the final fine adjustment and anatomical position confirmation were conducted using 3-matic research 13.0 software.The real anatomical morphology of the head and neck of preschool children was successfully simulated and restored.Unity3D software was used to integrate the 3D model of children,acupuncture operation video and acupoint annotation database,and the 3D digital Mongolian acupuncture acupoint visualization system for children was successfully constructed.Based on the real continuous fault ultra-thin dataset of preschool boys in China,China's first 3D digitization and visualization system of acupuncture points in the head and neck of children in Mongolian medicine was developed.Compared with the previous acupuncture soft works,this system is more suitable for the anatomical morphological development characteristics of Asian children,and has a high value of application in the fields of research on the safety of acupuncture in Mongolian medicine,clinical teaching and acupuncture simulation training.

Objective:To investigate the differences of white matter diffusion properties between vulnerable and resistant individuals to continuous attention after sleep deprivation.Methods:According to the psychomotor vigilance test performance before and after sleep deprivation, the participants were divided into the vulnerable group( n=24) and resistant group( n=25). All participants underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans.Tract based spatial statistics(TBSS) was used to compare fractional anisotropy(FA), mean diffusivity(MD), axial diffusivity(AD), radial diffusivity(RD) maps between the two groups.Spearman correlation analysis was conducted by SPSS 24.0 to investigate the relationships between the altered DTI metrics and PVT task performance. Results:(1) Compared with resistant group, FA value of vulnerable group decreased in the body of corpus callosum(x, y, z=-8, 9, 25, t=-7.855), right superior longitudinal fasciculus(x, y, z=-39, -7, 26, t=-6.252), bilateral anterior limb of internal capsule(x, y, z=-13, 8, 13, t=-5.235; x, y, z=12, 8, 3, t=-5.024) and right posterior thalamic radiation(x, y, z=-26, -56, 17, t=-5.469)(TFCE corrected, P<0.05, cluster size≥50 voxel). (2) Compared with resistant group, MD value of vulnerable group increased in the body of corpus callosum(x, y, z=-3, -6, 26, t=7.613), right superior longitudinal fasciculus(x, y, z=-31, -19, 38, t=5.314), bilateral anterior limb of internal capsule(x, y, z=-16, 7, 8, t=6.898; x, y, z=15, 5, 7, t=6.652), splenium of corpus callosum(x, y, z=27, -53, 17, t=6.541), and AD value increased in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus(x, y, z=-33, -19, 39, t=4.892), splenium of corpus callosum(x, y, z=-22, -49, 21, t=5.450), genu of corpus callosum(x, y, z=4, 26, 0, t=4.332), as well as RD value increased in the right superior corona radiata(x, y, z=-17, 1, 33, t=7.558), body of corpus callosum(x, y, z=4, -8, 26, t=6.699), right anterior limb of internal capsule(x, y, z=-12, 7, 3, t=5.212) (TFCE corrected, P<0.05, cluster size≥50 voxel). (3) Correlational analysis revealed that the negative correlations were found between PVT task performance and the FA value in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus( r=-0.492, P<0.001), right anterior limb of internal capsule( r=-0.510, P<0.001), right posterior thalamic radiation( r=-0.502, P<0.001) and body of corpus callosum( r=-0.464, P<0.001). The positive correlations were found between PVT task performance and the MD value in the body of corpus callosum( r=0.500, P<0.001), right superior longitudinal fasciculus( r=0.499, P<0.001), splenium of corpus callosum( r=0.462, P<0.001), right anterior limb of internal capsule( r=0.471, P<0.001), and AD value in right superior longitudinal fasciculus( r=0.643, P<0.001), as well as RD value in right superior corona radiate( r=0.498, P<0.001) (Bonferroni corrected, P<0.003). Conclusion:Differences in the microstructural characteristics of white matter fiber tracts in specific brain regions may constitute the potential neuropathological basis for the phenotypes of vulnerable and resistant individuals to continuous attention after sleep deprivation.

Objective:To retrospectively analyze prognostic factors and patterns of recurrence in locally advanced gastric cancer patients receiving chemoradiotherapy (CRT) after radical gastrectomy, aiming to provide reference for postoperative CRT of locally advanced gastric cancer.Methods:Clinical data of 171 patients with curatively resected gastric carcinoma who received postoperative CRT in our hospital between 2008 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The disease-free survival and overall survival (OS) rates were calculated by Kaplan- Meier method. Univariate prognostic analysis was performed by log- rank test. Multivariate prognostic analysis was conducted by Cox model. Results:The median follow-up duration was 63 months. The follow-up rate was 93.6%. 31.0% and 66.7% of the enrolled patients were classified in pathological stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ. The acute grade 3 or 4 gastrointestinal and hematological toxicity rates were 8.8% and 9.9%, respectively. In total, 166 patients completed the entire CRT regimen. No toxicity-related death occurred. Regarding patterns of recurrence, 17 patients had locoregional recurrence, 29 had distant metastasis and 12 had peritoneal metastasis. The 1-, 3-and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 83.7%, 66.3%, and 60.0%, while the 1-, 3-and 5-year disease-free survival rates were 75.5%, 62.7%, and 56.5%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, pathological T stage, perineural invasion and lymph node ratio (LNR) were found to be the independent predictors of OS.Conclusions:Postoperative intensity-modulated radiation therapy and chemotherapy are well tolerated, with acceptable toxicities and encouraging locoregional tumor control and long-term survival. LNR can be used as an independent prognostic indicator for OS. Adjuvant CRT should be considered for all patients with a high risk of locoregional recurrence.

Objective:To investigate and analyze the current status of multimodality therapy for resectable gastric cancer, aiming to provide reference for optimizing the multimodality treatment strategy for gastric cancer.Methods:Clinical data of patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma undergoing radical gastrectomy in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical characteristics, preoperative medical comorbidities, pathological features, surgical and perioperative status and clinical efficacy were recorded. The gap between the diagnosis and treatment procedures and the standard guidelines was analyzed. The changes in the multimodality treatment patterns for gastric cancer were understood.Results:A total of 265 patients were included in this study. All patients were divided into two cohorts: early[2008] and late[2013] cohorts. In the early cohort, 127 patients were assigned, and 138 cases in the late cohort. In the early cohort, 67 patients (52.8%) underwent D 2 lymph node dissection, significantly less than 83 patients (60.1%) in the late cohort ( P<0.01). In the early and late cohorts, the proportion of patients with the number of lymph node dissection of ≥15 was 5.5% and 52.8%( P<0.01). The median number of lymph node dissection was increased from 6 to 16. The proportion of patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the early and late cohorts was 2.4% and 3.6%( P=0.55). In the early cohort, the proportion of patients treated with postoperative chemotherapy and postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was 62.6% and 2.4%, significantly higher compared with 58.0% and 8.0% in the late cohort ( P=0.04). In addition, the proportion of patients receiving postoperative chemotherapy in the early cohort was 62.2%( n=79) and 58.0%( n=80) in the late cohort ( P=0.48). Conclusions:Although the level of radical gastrectomy has been continuously improved and standardized in China, which still lags behind the standard D 2 radical gastrectomy in Japan and South Korea. Adjuvant therapies including postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy can bring clinical benefits. However, the proportion of patients receiving adjuvant therapy is still low, and the multimodality therapy of gastric cancer should be widely applied.

Objective:According to the SIOPE (2018) guidelines, the whole brain target of patients undergoing craniospinal irradiation was delineated and the underdose of sub-structures which were not delineated in original plan was verified, aiming to provide evidence for the risk of whole brain recurrence of craniospinal irradiation and accumulate experience for the clinical application of SIOPE guidelines.Methods:Twelve children who underwent craniospinal irradiation were selected. As per the SIOPE guidelines in 2018, the CTV sub (including the superior orbital fissure, foramen rotundum, foramen ovale, jugular foramen, hypoglossal canal, internal auditory meatus and optic nerve) were delineated based on the original CTV old (whole brain plus sieve plate) to form PTV new. A rough PTV (PTV rough) was formed by giving a margin of 15 mm forward-downward (skull base) and 3 mm in the other directions. CRT old and IMRT old plans were designed based on PTV old. CRT new and IMRT new plans were designed based on PTV new. CRT rough plan was designed based on PTV rough. The omission of sub-structures based on CTV old and the underdose of CTV sub in each plan were evaluated. Results:A total of 78.6% of superior orbital fissure, 71.99% of foramen rotundum, 96.76% of foramen ovale, 88.5% of jugular foramen, 97.71% of hypoglossal canal, 99.48% of internal auditory meatus and 100% of optic nerve volume were missed based on CTV old. The target dose coverage of CTV sub based on CRT old and IMRT old was only 91.70% and 89.83%, respectively. The underdose was observed in 16.66%, 3.57%, 20.83%, 1.78% and 1.19% of sub-structures in CRT old, CRT new, IMRT old, IMRT new and CRT rough plans, respectively. Of the underdose of all sub-structures, 38.36% and 46.58% occurred in CRT old and IMRT old plans, respectively. Among them, the least and the most significant underdose occurred in foramen rotundum (0%) and foramen ovale (36.66%), respectively. Conclusions:As per the SIOPE guidelines, traditional brain tissue delineation (including sieve plate) is likely to omit part of the target during the cranial target definition of craniospinal irradiation. The most significant underdose occurs in foramen ovale, and more obvious in the IMRT plan. The plan based on the delineation of sub-structures can significantly improve the underdose. When AP-PA irradiation is adopted, a rough PTV is recommended to obtain approximate target dose coverage and organ of risk sparing, whereas it requires further clinical verification.

Objective:To explore the method of improving the accuracy of dose calculation of treatment plan in radiotherapy for patients with metal implants.Methods:A CT simulator with metal artifact reduction technique (MAR) was utilized to scan the CIRS intensity-modulated phantom with metal rods and 8 patients with steel nails implanted in the centrum for radiotherapy. Radiotherapy plans were designed using conventional CT images, MAR images and density-filled images. The dose calculation errors between single field and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan were compared. The effect of mental implants and their artifacts on the irradiation dose of IMRT plan was evaluated.Results:In the conventional CT images of the phantom, when the incident path of the field failed to pass through the metal region, the dose calculation error for a single field was 3.85%, and the range of dose error for the field was 4.46%-74.11% when passing through the metal region. IMRT planning errors might exceed the clinically acceptable range when the incident path of the field passed through the metal region, and the errors tended to increase with the increase of dose weight of this field. After processing the images with density filling and artifact reduction techniques, the errors of the single field were 1.23% and 0.89%-4.73%, respectively, and the dose error of IMRT was 1.84%. The error of IMRT plan was 1.88% if density filling technique alone was employed to process the metal region. Due to the influence of metal implants and their artifacts, the minimum dose, average dose and prescription dose coverage actually received in the tumor target area were lower than IMRT plan results based on conventional CT images. The dosimetric difference of organs at risk was not statistically significant.Conclusions:In the radiotherapy plan based on conventional CT images, there may be a large dose calculation error when the incident path of field passes through the metal region. If the metal material is known, density filling of the metal region in the planning system can effectively improve the accuracy of dose calculation. Metal artifact reduction technique can significantly improve the image quality and further reduce dose calculation error, which should be a routine technique for CT machines equipped with this function to perform simulated localization of patients with metal implants.

Objective:To identify the key factors affecting the time of proton and carbon ion radiotherapy by analyzing the timing characteristics of the accelerator system and to find out potential solutions to enhance treatment efficiency.Methods:The log files for 47 patients with different types of tumors treated with proton beams and carbon ion beams were analyzed. Lung cancer patients were treated with the gating technology. The timing characteristics of beam delivery were analyzed and potential solutions to enhance treatment efficiency were explored.Results:The mean spill time and mean cycle time per iso-energy slice (IES) for proton radiotherapy with beam gating technology were (2.98±1.98) s and (5.71±4.51) s, which were longer than the radiotherapy without using gating technology. The mean total cycle time for treatment without using gating technology was approximately 7 min for both proton and carbon ion beams. The mean total cycle time for lung cancer treatment using gating technology was approximately 15 min.Conclusion:Application of mini-ridge filter or ripple filter to reduce per IES numbers and use of passive breath hold technology to eliminate interruptions during beam delivery in each IES for gating radiotherapy are two feasible approaches to improve treatment efficiency for this specific machine.

Objective To analyze the infiltration of inflammatory cells under the mucosa of female cystitis glandularis and the different inflammatory infiltration in different clinical pathological types of cystitis glandularis.Methods Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the bladder mucosal tissue samples of 10 female patients confirmed cystitis glandularis admitted from June 2016 to October 2016.The results of immunohistochemical staining were collected and statistically analyzed by the automatic microscopy and image analysis system.In addition,the clinical data and tissue sample of 49 cases of cystitis glandularis treated from December 2006 to August 2017 were collected.Age of 49 patients was (34.4 ±7.5) years old and BMI was (21.9 ± 4.2) kg/m2.There were 19 cases of hypertension and 18 cases of diabetes.According to the cystoscopic manifestations,follicular edema type,papilloma type,and intestinal adenomatosis type were defined as high risk.Chronic inflammatory type and mucosa unchanged type were defined as low risk.Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect tissue samples,to compare the general data of different types of cystitis glandularis and the degree of infiltration of bladder mucosal inflammatory cells.Results T lymphocytes were highly expressed in 10 patients,and B lymphocytes and plasma cells were not expressed or extremely low (P ＜ 0.01).Of the 49 patients,29 were high risk type cystitis glandularis (follicular edema type,papilloma type,and intestinal adenomatosis type),and 21 were low risk type (chronic inflammatory type and mucosa unchanged type).The age of the high-risk group was (34.4 ± 7.5) years old with BMI of (21.9 ±4.2) kg/m2,8 cases of hypertension and 8 cases of diabetes.The age of the low-risk group was (38.2 ±8.5) years old with BMI of (20.8 ±4.0) kg/m2,11 cases of hypertension and 10 cases of diabetes.There was no statistically significant difference between two groups (P ＞ 0.05).The OABSS of high-risk group(10.4 ± 2.6) was significantly higher than that of low-risk group (7.1 ± 2.1,P ＜ 0.01).QOL of high-risk group (4.9 ± 0.9) was significantly higher than that of low-risk group (4.1 ± 0.8,P ＜ 0.01).Qmax of high-risk group was (11.4 ± 3.6) ml/s,significantly lower than that of low-risk group[(15.8 ±3.8) ml/s,P ＜0.01].The positive number of T lymphocytes of high-risk group was (173.5 ± 26.8),which was significantly higher than that of low-risk group(119.5 ± 21.2,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions T lymphocytes infiltration is the major phenomenon in bladder submucosa of female patients with cystitis glandularis.The inflammatory infiltration by T lymphocytes could be associated with patient's symptom and bladder's pathological changes.