BACKGROUND:Steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head is a common progressive,crippling and high incidence of non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head,but its exact pathogenesis is not clear.Internal heat acupuncture therapy has a good clinical effect in the treatment of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head,but its specific mechanism is not clear.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of internal heat acupuncture on osteoblast apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax)and B lymphocytoma-2(Bcl-2)in steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head in rabbits.METHODS:Totally 24 male New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into blank group,model group,and internal heat acupuncture group(n=8).The rabbit model of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head was made in the last two groups by methylprednisolone sodium succinate combined with Escherichia coli endotoxin.After successful model establishment for 4 weeks,the rabbits in the internal heat acupuncture group received internal heat acupuncture intervention on the buttocks of rabbits,once a week for 20 minutes each time,while the other two groups did not receive any intervention.After 4 weeks of treatment,samples were harvested.Morphological changes of femoral head and osteoblast apoptosis were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and TUNEL assay.Protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in rabbit femoral head tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot assay.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)In the blank group,there were abundant hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow cavity,clear and orderly trabecular structure,few adipocytes and few empty bone lacunae.In the model group,the number of adipocytes in the bone marrow cavity increased significantly,accompanied by hyperplasia,steatosis of some osteocytes and more empty bone lacunae.After the intervention of internal heat acupuncture,the number of adipocytes and hollow bone lacunae was less than that in the model group,but more obvious than that in the blank group.(2)Compared with the blank group,the apoptosis of osteoblasts in the model group was significantly increased,the expression of Bax was significantly increased(P＜0.001),and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly decreased(P＜0.001).After the intervention of internal heat acupuncture,the apoptosis of osteoblasts was significantly decreased,the expression of Bax was significantly decreased(P＜0.001),and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly increased(P＜0.001).(3)The results show that internal heat acupuncture can alleviate steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head by inhibiting osteoblast apoptosis in the femoral head.

Objective:To investigate the preoperative administration time and dose of indo-cyanine green (ICG) for extrahepatic biliary tract imaging in the laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).Methods:The retrospective study was conducted. The clinical data of 252 patients with gallbladder diseases who were admitted to The Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from December 2022 to December 2024 were collected. There were 137 males and 115 females, aged (45±4)years. All patients underwent LC after injection of 1.25 mg or 2.50 mg ICG, with ICG fluore-scence navigation during the operation. Observation indicators: (1) effective fluorescence imaging during surgery; (2) the ratio of fluorescence intensity between gallbladder duct and liver, and the ratio of fluorescence intensity between common bile duct and liver; (3) the imaging effect of extra-hepatic biliary tract. Comparison of measurement data with skewed distribution among groups was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Bonferroni method was used for pairwise com-parison. The consistency evaluation was conducted using the Kendall test. Results:(1) Effective fluorescence imaging during surgery. The Kendall coefficient index was 0.83, indicating high consis-tency in evaluation of fluorescence imaging of extrahepatic biliary tract between doctors. The effective fluorescent imaging sites during surgery were located in the liver, cystic duct, common bile duct, cystic duct-common bile duct junction, hepatic duct, and gallbladder. The intraoperative effective fluorescence imaging of patients who received intravenous injection of 1.25 mg and 2.50 mg ICG before surgery showed that as the interval between ICG injection and surgery increased, the proportion of fluorescence imaging in the liver and gallbladder gradually decreased. The proportion of fluorescence imaging in the gallbladder duct, common bile duct, cystic duct-common bile duct junction, common hepatic duct showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. (2) The ratio of fluorescence intensity between gallbladder duct and liver, and the ratio of fluorescence intensity between common bile duct and liver. Results of Kruskal Wallis H test showed that there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratios of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver among patients who received intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG at different time intervals to surgery ( H=73.22, 77.17, P<0.05). Results of pairwise comparison showed that there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver between patients who received intravenous ICG injection 4.0-<6.0 hours before surgery and those who received ICG injection <0.5 hours, 0.5-<2.0 hours, 2.0-<4.0 hours, 6.0-<8.0 hours, 8.0-<10.0 hours, and 10.0-<12.0 hours before surgery, respectively ( P<0.002). There were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver among patients who received intravenous injection of 2.50 mg ICG at different time intervals to surgery ( H=127.06, 126.39, P<0.05). Results of pairwise comparison showed there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gall-bladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver between patients who received ICG injection 8.0-<10.0 hours before surgery and those who received ICG injection <0.5 hours, 0.5-<2.0 hours, 2.0-<4.0 hours, 4.0-<6.0 hours, 6.0-<8.0 hours, 12.0-<14.0 hours, and 14.0-<16.0 hours before surgery ( P<0.001). (3) The imaging effect of extrahepatic biliary tract. Among 102 patients who received preoperative intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG, the number of patients with grade A extrahepatic biliary system imaging increased and then decreased as the interval time extending, reaching a peak at 4.0-<6.0 hours. Among 150 patients who received preoperative intravenous injection of 2.50 mg ICG, the number of patients with grade A extrahepatic biliary tract imaging increased and then decreased as the interval time extending, reaching a peak at 8.0-<10.0 hours. Conclusion:Prolonging the time interval between ICG administration and surgery can effectively reduce the fluorescence intensity of the liver background, thereby increasing the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and common bile duct to liver to obtain the best development effect. Intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG 4.0-<6.0 hours before surgery or 2.50 mg ICG 8.0-<10.0 hours before surgery provide better results for intraoperative extrahepatic biliary tract imaging.

Background and Aims:Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the most prevalent type of liver malignancy,accounting for 80%of all primary liver cancer cases.Partial hepatectomy is widely considered to be the treatment of choice for HCC.However,post-hepatectomy liver failure(PHLF)is the most serious complication and the leading cause of perioperative death.Therefore,an accurate assessment of the risk of PHLF is particularly critical.Patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma have larger tumors(tumor diameter≥5 cm)and more resected liver tissue,and are more likely to develop PHLF.Previous studies have used various methods to assess the risk of PHLF,including liver function,Child-Pugh classification,model for end-stage liver disease,albumin-bilirubin(ALBI),and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index score.However,no model has been developed for data on hepatectomy for large HCC.Therefore,this study aims to analyze the risk factors of PHLF in HCC patients with large tumor and to construct a preoperative nomogram prediction model to guide and optimize clinical decision-making.Methods:The clinical data of 927 patients with large liver cancer who underwent radical hepatectomy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University(721 cases,training cohort)and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University(206 cases,validation cohort)from January 2018 to June 2023 were retrospectively collected.The patients'baseline data,laboratory examination,imaging data,and surgical information were collected.Univariate analysis combined with multivariate analysis was used to screen out the independent risk factors for inducing PHLF,and binary Logistic regression was used to construct a prediction model for PHLF.ROC,calibration,and clinical decision curves verified the model's performance.Results:There were no significant differences in all preoperative data between the training and validation cohorts(P>0.05).Grade B or C PHLF occurred in 192 of 927 patients(20.7%),including 8 patients with grade C PHLF.Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the independent risk factors of PHLF,including tumor diameter,ALBI score,liver cirrhosis,vascular tumor thrombus,and intraoperative blood loss.These factors were included in the Logistic regression analysis,and a nomogram model was constructed to predict PHLF.The nomogram model was validated,and the C-index of the nomogram was 0.757.The ROC curve analysis of the prediction probability of the model showed that the AUC of the training set was 0.757(95%CI=0.703-0.811),and the AUC of the validation set was 0.779(95%CI=0.702-0.863).The validation showed that the model had good predictive ability.Conclusions:Tumor diameter,ALBI score,liver cirrhosis,vascular tumor thrombus,and intraoperative blood loss are independent risk factors for PHLF.The nomogram prediction model constructed in this study can accurately assess the risk of preoperative PHLF,which is helpful for better clinical management,reducing the occurrence of PHLF,and improving the postoperative prognosis of patients.

BACKGROUND:Steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head is a common progressive,crippling and high incidence of non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head,but its exact pathogenesis is not clear.Internal heat acupuncture therapy has a good clinical effect in the treatment of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head,but its specific mechanism is not clear.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of internal heat acupuncture on osteoblast apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax)and B lymphocytoma-2(Bcl-2)in steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head in rabbits.METHODS:Totally 24 male New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into blank group,model group,and internal heat acupuncture group(n=8).The rabbit model of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head was made in the last two groups by methylprednisolone sodium succinate combined with Escherichia coli endotoxin.After successful model establishment for 4 weeks,the rabbits in the internal heat acupuncture group received internal heat acupuncture intervention on the buttocks of rabbits,once a week for 20 minutes each time,while the other two groups did not receive any intervention.After 4 weeks of treatment,samples were harvested.Morphological changes of femoral head and osteoblast apoptosis were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and TUNEL assay.Protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in rabbit femoral head tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot assay.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)In the blank group,there were abundant hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow cavity,clear and orderly trabecular structure,few adipocytes and few empty bone lacunae.In the model group,the number of adipocytes in the bone marrow cavity increased significantly,accompanied by hyperplasia,steatosis of some osteocytes and more empty bone lacunae.After the intervention of internal heat acupuncture,the number of adipocytes and hollow bone lacunae was less than that in the model group,but more obvious than that in the blank group.(2)Compared with the blank group,the apoptosis of osteoblasts in the model group was significantly increased,the expression of Bax was significantly increased(P＜0.001),and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly decreased(P＜0.001).After the intervention of internal heat acupuncture,the apoptosis of osteoblasts was significantly decreased,the expression of Bax was significantly decreased(P＜0.001),and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly increased(P＜0.001).(3)The results show that internal heat acupuncture can alleviate steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head by inhibiting osteoblast apoptosis in the femoral head.

Objective:To investigate the preoperative administration time and dose of indo-cyanine green (ICG) for extrahepatic biliary tract imaging in the laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).Methods:The retrospective study was conducted. The clinical data of 252 patients with gallbladder diseases who were admitted to The Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from December 2022 to December 2024 were collected. There were 137 males and 115 females, aged (45±4)years. All patients underwent LC after injection of 1.25 mg or 2.50 mg ICG, with ICG fluore-scence navigation during the operation. Observation indicators: (1) effective fluorescence imaging during surgery; (2) the ratio of fluorescence intensity between gallbladder duct and liver, and the ratio of fluorescence intensity between common bile duct and liver; (3) the imaging effect of extra-hepatic biliary tract. Comparison of measurement data with skewed distribution among groups was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Bonferroni method was used for pairwise com-parison. The consistency evaluation was conducted using the Kendall test. Results:(1) Effective fluorescence imaging during surgery. The Kendall coefficient index was 0.83, indicating high consis-tency in evaluation of fluorescence imaging of extrahepatic biliary tract between doctors. The effective fluorescent imaging sites during surgery were located in the liver, cystic duct, common bile duct, cystic duct-common bile duct junction, hepatic duct, and gallbladder. The intraoperative effective fluorescence imaging of patients who received intravenous injection of 1.25 mg and 2.50 mg ICG before surgery showed that as the interval between ICG injection and surgery increased, the proportion of fluorescence imaging in the liver and gallbladder gradually decreased. The proportion of fluorescence imaging in the gallbladder duct, common bile duct, cystic duct-common bile duct junction, common hepatic duct showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. (2) The ratio of fluorescence intensity between gallbladder duct and liver, and the ratio of fluorescence intensity between common bile duct and liver. Results of Kruskal Wallis H test showed that there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratios of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver among patients who received intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG at different time intervals to surgery ( H=73.22, 77.17, P<0.05). Results of pairwise comparison showed that there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver between patients who received intravenous ICG injection 4.0-<6.0 hours before surgery and those who received ICG injection <0.5 hours, 0.5-<2.0 hours, 2.0-<4.0 hours, 6.0-<8.0 hours, 8.0-<10.0 hours, and 10.0-<12.0 hours before surgery, respectively ( P<0.002). There were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver among patients who received intravenous injection of 2.50 mg ICG at different time intervals to surgery ( H=127.06, 126.39, P<0.05). Results of pairwise comparison showed there were significant differences in the fluorescence intensity ratio of gall-bladder duct to liver and the fluorescence intensity ratio of common bile duct to liver between patients who received ICG injection 8.0-<10.0 hours before surgery and those who received ICG injection <0.5 hours, 0.5-<2.0 hours, 2.0-<4.0 hours, 4.0-<6.0 hours, 6.0-<8.0 hours, 12.0-<14.0 hours, and 14.0-<16.0 hours before surgery ( P<0.001). (3) The imaging effect of extrahepatic biliary tract. Among 102 patients who received preoperative intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG, the number of patients with grade A extrahepatic biliary system imaging increased and then decreased as the interval time extending, reaching a peak at 4.0-<6.0 hours. Among 150 patients who received preoperative intravenous injection of 2.50 mg ICG, the number of patients with grade A extrahepatic biliary tract imaging increased and then decreased as the interval time extending, reaching a peak at 8.0-<10.0 hours. Conclusion:Prolonging the time interval between ICG administration and surgery can effectively reduce the fluorescence intensity of the liver background, thereby increasing the fluorescence intensity ratio of gallbladder duct to liver and common bile duct to liver to obtain the best development effect. Intravenous injection of 1.25 mg ICG 4.0-<6.0 hours before surgery or 2.50 mg ICG 8.0-<10.0 hours before surgery provide better results for intraoperative extrahepatic biliary tract imaging.

Background and Aims:Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the most prevalent type of liver malignancy,accounting for 80%of all primary liver cancer cases.Partial hepatectomy is widely considered to be the treatment of choice for HCC.However,post-hepatectomy liver failure(PHLF)is the most serious complication and the leading cause of perioperative death.Therefore,an accurate assessment of the risk of PHLF is particularly critical.Patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma have larger tumors(tumor diameter≥5 cm)and more resected liver tissue,and are more likely to develop PHLF.Previous studies have used various methods to assess the risk of PHLF,including liver function,Child-Pugh classification,model for end-stage liver disease,albumin-bilirubin(ALBI),and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index score.However,no model has been developed for data on hepatectomy for large HCC.Therefore,this study aims to analyze the risk factors of PHLF in HCC patients with large tumor and to construct a preoperative nomogram prediction model to guide and optimize clinical decision-making.Methods:The clinical data of 927 patients with large liver cancer who underwent radical hepatectomy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University(721 cases,training cohort)and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University(206 cases,validation cohort)from January 2018 to June 2023 were retrospectively collected.The patients'baseline data,laboratory examination,imaging data,and surgical information were collected.Univariate analysis combined with multivariate analysis was used to screen out the independent risk factors for inducing PHLF,and binary Logistic regression was used to construct a prediction model for PHLF.ROC,calibration,and clinical decision curves verified the model's performance.Results:There were no significant differences in all preoperative data between the training and validation cohorts(P>0.05).Grade B or C PHLF occurred in 192 of 927 patients(20.7%),including 8 patients with grade C PHLF.Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the independent risk factors of PHLF,including tumor diameter,ALBI score,liver cirrhosis,vascular tumor thrombus,and intraoperative blood loss.These factors were included in the Logistic regression analysis,and a nomogram model was constructed to predict PHLF.The nomogram model was validated,and the C-index of the nomogram was 0.757.The ROC curve analysis of the prediction probability of the model showed that the AUC of the training set was 0.757(95%CI=0.703-0.811),and the AUC of the validation set was 0.779(95%CI=0.702-0.863).The validation showed that the model had good predictive ability.Conclusions:Tumor diameter,ALBI score,liver cirrhosis,vascular tumor thrombus,and intraoperative blood loss are independent risk factors for PHLF.The nomogram prediction model constructed in this study can accurately assess the risk of preoperative PHLF,which is helpful for better clinical management,reducing the occurrence of PHLF,and improving the postoperative prognosis of patients.

For the past few years, the indocyanine green fluorescence imaging has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases. Fluorescence visualization of the biliary system by indocyanine green accurately localize the diseased tissue and identify the biliary structures precisely, which effectively avoids the damage to the natural biliary structure and greatly improves the accuracy and safety of biliary surgery. However, the application of this new technology in biliary surgery is still at the exploratory stage, showing great potential for application while also exposing many problems and controversies. It is believed that with the continuous development and improvement, the indocyanine green fluorescence cholangiography will play a more important role in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases in the future, and bring more benefits to patients.

The incidence and mortality rate of hepatocellular carcinoma rank among the top of all cancer types,seriously threatening the life and health of human beings. In recent years,the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the deepening of the concept of precision medicine have led to a boom in interdisciplinary research. Pathomics,as an emerging omics technology driven by artificial intelligence,can mine massive information from high-resolution whole slide images,and shows broad application prospects in the diagnosis,treatment and prognosis assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, pathomics research in hepatocellular carcinoma is still in its infancy, and its research patterns and clinical applications still face several controversies and challenges, including data security, ethics, and “black box” issues. Future research should focus on conducting prospective studies, integrating multimodal data, improving computational technologies, and establishing professional standards to promote the high-quality development of pathomics technology in both clinical and basic research of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The incidence and mortality rate of hepatocellular carcinoma rank among the top of all cancer types,seriously threatening the life and health of human beings. In recent years,the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the deepening of the concept of precision medicine have led to a boom in interdisciplinary research. Pathomics,as an emerging omics technology driven by artificial intelligence,can mine massive information from high-resolution whole slide images,and shows broad application prospects in the diagnosis,treatment and prognosis assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, pathomics research in hepatocellular carcinoma is still in its infancy, and its research patterns and clinical applications still face several controversies and challenges, including data security, ethics, and “black box” issues. Future research should focus on conducting prospective studies, integrating multimodal data, improving computational technologies, and establishing professional standards to promote the high-quality development of pathomics technology in both clinical and basic research of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant cancer with low survival rate. Early diagnosis, early treatment and early recurrence intervention are the most important keys to improve overall prognosis of pancreatic cancer. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, it is an inevitable trend to apply it to the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer to achieve precision medicine for patients. By combining with clinical data, medical images and molecular biology, artifi-cial intelligence has shown broad application prospects in the whole-process management of pancreatic cancer. The authors briefly review the application status and problems of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer, and discuss its future development direction.