There is still a lack of experience in the perioperative strategy for esophageal cancer patients in China during the epidemic of COVID-19. In December 2022, a 59-year-old male patient with esophageal cancer was admitted to our department. He received 2 cycles of neoadjuvant therapy before surgery, and developed COVID-19 perioperatively. After treatment, the infection symptoms of the patient were improved, and the postoperative recovery was satisfactory.
The cardiovascular surgery in China has reached a stable platform, with notable progress been achieved in the past several decades. However, significant divergency regarding the healthcare quality was also observed, which requiring effective intervention to start the transition from the focus on "quantity" to the pursuit of "quality". Quality improvement program, including the establishment of a national cardiovascular surgery database, the conformation of a standard key quality evaluation indicator system, and the conduction of quality intervention and improvement initiatives, are promising to consolidate and expand the advantages of cardiac surgery and lead to better patient outcomes.
In recent years, with the development of ultrasound technology, pulmonary ultrasound is more and more used in the evaluation of patients with heart failure. B-lines are defined as reverberation artifacts starting from the pleural line and extending to the bottom of the screen without disappearing, and moving synchronously with pleural sliding, which are proportional to extravascular lung water in congestive heart failure (CHF). B-lines have the characteristics of no attenuation and synchronous movement with pleural sliding. Pulmonary ultrasound mainly record the numbers and widths of B-lines in the areas when assessing the severity of CHF, which have the characteristics of effectivity, non-invasiveness, instantaneousness, and good repeatability. Currently, there are 4-, 8-, 12-, and 28-subdivision methods for the evaluation of CHF in the pulmonary ultrasound subdivision method. The more subdivisions are, the longer the operation time will be, and the sensitivity and specificity will be different. How to choose a subdivision method is still controversial in clinical practice. Lung ultrasound could be used alone or combined with brain natriuretic peptide, echocardiography, chest X-ray, chest CT scan, etc. in the early diagnosis, assessment of disease severity, evaluation of efficacy, and assessment of prognosis of CHF, with different advantages and disadvantages. This article reviews the application and progress of pulmonary ultrasound in CHF.
New-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) is the most common complication after cardiac surgery. Postoperative atrial fibrillation is traditionally believed to a benign arrhythmia secondary to inflammation or surgical stimulation. However, a number of studies showed that patients with NOAF had a substantially increased adverse cardiovascular events. Therefore, effective treatment is of great significance. This study aims to review recent research of the perioperative management of NOAF.
Facing the increasing cardiovascular disease burden and prevailing population risk factors, the cardiovascular surgery in China was also encountering challenges including imbalances in discipline development, significant divergencies in healthcare quality, lacking of clinical guidelines and domestic critical evidence. The concept of quality control and improvement has been practiced and tested in many disease specialties. Quality improvement programs are urgently needed in China to promote the universal cardiovascular surgery healthcare quality.
ObjectiveTo explore value of CT imaging features in differentiating pathological grades of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNENs). MethodsThe patients with pNENs admitted to the Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital from October 2017 to December 2023 were retrospectively collected. The enrolled patients were assigned into a low-grade (G1+G2) pNENs and high-grade (G3+neuroendocrine carcinoma) pNENs. Then, the differences in gender, age, presence of neuroendocrine symptoms, tumor location, tumor diameter, clarity of the tumor boundary, cystic change, capsule, dilation of the biliary and pancreatic ducts, pancreatic parenchymal atrophy, vascular invasion, liver metastasis, lymph node metastasis, tumor enhancement pattern, Ct values in each phase, and the ratio of Ct value of the tumor to that of the normal pancreas (T/N value) between the low-grade pNENs and high-grade pNENs were compared. Subsequently, the multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen the CT imaging features with statistical significance and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was use to differentiate high-grade from low-grade pNENs. ResultsA total of 47 pNENs patients were enrolled, including 36 low-grade and 11 high-grade cases. Compared with the low-grade pNENs, the patients with high-grade pNENs had higher proportions of pancreaticobiliary duct dilation (χ2=9.124, P=0.003) and vascular invasion (χ2=10.967, P=0.001), more mild enhancement (χ2=9.192, P=0.010), larger tumor diameter (Z=–2.378, P=0.017), and lower Ct values and T/N ratios in the arterial and venous phases (P=0.001, P=0.032, P=0.006, P=0.018). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the pancreaticobiliary duct dilation, vascular invasion, and decreased Ct value in the arterial phase were the predictive factors for the high-grade pNENs. The areas under the ROC curves of these three indicators for distinguishing low-grade from high-grade pNENs were 0.760, 0.749, and 0.843, respectively, the Ct value in the arterial phase had the strongest discriminatory ability, and its cutoff value was 78 HU. ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that pancreatic ductal dilation, vascular invasion, and Ct value in arterial phase play important roles in differentiating high-grade pNENs from low-grade pNENs. Ct value in arterial phase has the greatest diagnostic efficiency.
In existing vascular interventional surgical robots, it is difficult to accurately detect the delivery force of the catheter/guidewire at the slave side. Aiming to solve this problem, a real-time force detection system was designed for vascular interventional surgical (VIS) robots based on catheter push force. Firstly, the transfer process of catheter operating forces in the slave end of the interventional robot was analyzed and modeled, and the design principle of the catheter operating force detection system was obtained. Secondly, based on the principle of stress and strain, a torque sensor was designed and integrated into the internal transmission shaft of the slave end of the interventional robot, and a data acquisition and processing system was established. Thirdly, an ATI high-precision torque sensor was used to build the experimental platform, and the designed sensor was tested and calibrated. Finally, sensor test experiments under ideal static/dynamic conditions and simulated catheter delivery tests based on actual human computed tomography (CT) data and vascular model were carried out. The results showed that the average relative detection error of the designed sensor system was 1.26% under ideal static conditions and 1.38% under ideal dynamic stability conditions. The system can detect on-line catheter operation force at high precision, which is of great significance towards improving patient safety in interventional robotic surgery.
Objective To explore the pathogenesis of acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) by bioinformatics analysis of neutrophil gene expression profile in order to find new therapeutic targets. Methods The gene expression chips include ARDS patients and healthy volunteers were screened from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes were carried out through GEO2R, OmicsBean, STRING, and Cytoscape, then enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) pathways was conducted to investigate the biological processes involved in ARDS via DAVID website. Results Bioinformatics analysis showed 86 differential genes achieved through the GEO2R website. Eighty-one genes were included in the STRING website for protein interaction analysis. The results of the interaction were further analyzed by Cytoscape software to obtain 11 hub genes: AHSP, ALAS2, CD177, CLEC4D, EPB42, GPR84, HBD, HVCN1, KLF1, SLC4A1, and STOM. GO analysis showed that the differential gene was enriched in the cellular component, especially the integrity of the plasma membrane. KEGG analysis showed that multiple pathways especially the cytokine receptor pathway involved in the pathogenesis of ARDS. Conclusions A variety of genes and pathways have been involved in the pathogenesis of ARDS. Eleven hub genes are screened, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of ARDS and can be used in subsequent studies.
Objective To summarize the effect of one-stage anterior debridement of infection in function reconstruction of anterior and middle column for the treatment of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis. Methods From January 2001 to January 2007, 65 patients with thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis were treated with one-stage anterior debridement, decompression, autogenous bone grafts and internal fixation. There were 43 males and 22 females with an average age of 40.2 years (range, 19-64 years), including 18 cases of thoracic tuberculosis (T4-10), 44 cases of thoracolumbar tuberculosis (T11-L2) and 3 cases of lumbar tuberculosis (L3-5). The disease course was 3 months to 10 years (median 10 months). One segment was involved in 7 cases, two segments in 54 cases and three segments in 4 cases. In 14 cases with spinalcord injury, there were 5 cases of grade C and 9 cases of grade D according to Frankel classification. The kyphotic Cobb angle was 20-65° (41° on average). Results The operative time was 120-210 minutes (170 minutes on average), and the blood loss was 300-1 500 mL (600 mL on average). Fifty-eight patients were followed up for 1-6 years (23 months on average). Abscess occurred in 2 cases at 40 days and 3 months, and healed after symptomatic management. The other incisions achieved heal ing by first intention. The X-ray films showed bony fusion 4-12 months (6 months on average) after operation. No tuberculosis recurred. At 12 months after operation, pain disappeared, and there were 7 cases of grade D and 7 cases of grade E according to Frankel classification. The kyphotic Cobb angle was 0-33° (24° on average), showing statistically significant difference (P lt; 0.05) when compared with preoperation. Conclusion Early reconstruction of load-bearing function and stabil ity of anterior and middle column in the treatment of spinal tuberculosis is great significant. The appl ication of one-stage anterior surgery with debridement, decompression, autogenous bone grafts and internal fixation in the operative treatment of thoracolumbar tuberculosis is safe and effective after a rigorous anti-tuberculosis treatment.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical signification of plasma interleukin-17 (IL-17) 1evel in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).MethodsForty-five adult ARDS patients and 22 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The plasma cytokine levels of IL-17, IL-6 and IL-10 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Meanwhile, the baseline data of demographic and clinical tests including oxygenation index, procalcitonin and brain natriuretic peprtide were collected, the acute physiological and chronic health Ⅱ (APACHEⅡ) score and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score were recorded. The main outcome was defined as hospital mortality within 28-day follow-up.ResultsThe plasma concentration of IL-17, IL-6 were higher in the ARDS patients (P<0.05) compared with the controls and the mean levels of IL-17, IL-6 and the APACHEⅡ score and the SOFA score in the non-survivors was higher than those in the survivors (P<0.05). In particular, there was a significant correlation between the plasma levels of IL-17 and IL-6 (P<0.05). Logistic regression and COX multivariate survival analysis suggested that age and SOFA score may be prognostic factors for ARDS.ConclusionsThe plasma concentration of IL-17 is significantly increased in ARDS patients, and its expression is linearly related to the proinflammatory factor IL-6. Both are important inflammatory markers in the acute phase of ARDS and may be important disease severity and prognostic indicators in addition to age and SOFA score.