Objective To perform semi-quantitative grading of carotid artery wall enhancement in patients with Takayasu arteritis(TA)using contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS),and to investigate the value of conventional carotid artery sonography combined with CEUS in evaluating the activity of TA.Methods A total of 59 patients with TA were en-rolled according to the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria,the clinical active and inactive stages were determined based on the National Institution of Health(NIH)score.The patients were divided into three groups ac-cording to the grade of enhancement on CEUS.The correlation of CEUS grade and conventional ultrasound parameters with clinical activity parameters of the disease was analyzed,as well as their value in predicting the clinical activity of the dis-ease.Results The CEUS enhancement grade,wall thickness,and outer diameter of the carotid artery were positively cor-related with NIH score,erythrocyte sedimentation rate,and C-reactive protein,among which CEUS enhancement grade showed the highest degree of correlation(r=0.438,0.560,and 0.471,P<0.01).CEUS grade≥2 and CEUS grade 3 had an area under the ROC curve(AUC)of 0.782 and 0.725,respectively,in predicting the clinical activity of the disease(P<0.001),with a sensitivity of 77%and 53%,respectively,and a specificity of 80%and 92%,respectively.Carotid ar-tery wall thickness≥1.95 mm combined with CEUS grade≥2 had an AUC of 0.804 in predicting the clinical activity of the disease(P<0.001),with a sensitivity of 80%and a specificity of 81%,showing a better predictive efficacy than carotid artery wall thickness alone(Z=2.535,P=0.011).Conclusion CEUS enhancement grade and wall thickness of the ca-rotid artery are significantly correlated with the clinical activity of TA,and carotid artery wall thickness combined with CEUS enhancement grade can effectively evaluate the clinical activity of TA.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) was used as drug delivery carrier, and the doxorubicin (DOX), IR808 and catalase (CAT) were modified on hyaluronic acid (HA) to form the nano-probe CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs with anti-tumor and fluorescence imaging by self-assembly.It was characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, fluorescence spectrophotometer and transmission electron microscope, and its fluorescence imaging and antitumor activity were studied at solution and cell level.The experimental results showed that CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs displayed a uniform near-spherical morphology with a size of 75 nm approximately.Under the condition of pH 5.0 + hyaluronidase (HAase), the release rate of DOX reached more than 80% in the first 10 hours. In the CD44 positive cells, laser confocal imaging results showed that the group of CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs had more significant fluorescence signals than the group of free drugs and negative cell.In the cytotoxicity test, only about 40% of the MDA-MB-231 cells survived at the highest concentration of CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs of the group of CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs + NIR.Therefore, CAT@HA-DOX-IR808 NPs possess significantly enhanced anti-tumor effect with broad application prospect in the imaging and treatment of breast cancer in vitro.