Artificial ascites­assisted microwave ablation for liver cancer adjacent to the diaphragm and perioperative nursing care.

Liver cancer near the deep diaphragm can be difficult to visualize due to the effects of lung gas, which presents a challenge for microwave ablation (MWA). The present study aimed to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of artificial ascites-assisted MWA for treating liver cancer near the deep diaphragm, as well as the significance of perioperative nursing. A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent artificial ascites-assisted MWA for liver cancer located near the deep diaphragm between January 2016 and December 2022. Normal saline was utilized as artificial ascites to safeguard the deep diaphragm during MWA. The study recorded the procedural success rate, incidence of major complications, technical efficacy of ablation and local tumor progression (LTP). A total of 62 lesions in 54 patients were included, with 44 men and 10 women, and a mean (± SD) age of 55.64±10.33 years. The ultrasound image quality scores for liver cancer before and after ascites were 3.57±0.79 and 4.89±0.33, respectively, showing a statistically significant difference between the two groups (t=16.324; P<0.05). No diaphragm injury, skin burns at the puncture site or abdominal hemorrhage occurred during the procedure. A single patient developed right-sided pleural effusion, which did not require drainage. The complete ablation rate was 94.4% (51/54) at 1 month post-ablation, with 3 patients experiencing recurrence and receiving additional MWA treatment. The median follow-up time for the patients in this study was 21 months (range, 12-45 months), with a LTP rate of 5.6% (3/54). In conclusion, MWA assisted by artificial ascites is a safe and effective treatment for liver cancer near the deep diaphragm. Furthermore, perioperative treatment and rehabilitation of the patients with high-quality nursing is beneficial.

Perfluorobutane application value in microwave ablation of small hepatocellular carcinoma (<3 cm).

BACKGROUND: No studies have been retrieved comparing perfluorobutane with sulfur hexafluoride for microwave ablation (MWA) in small hepatocellular carcinoma(sHCC). OBJECTIVE: To retrospective investigate the value of perfluorobutane ultrasonography contrast agent in ultrasonography (US)-guided MWA of sHCC. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective clinical controlled study about US-guided percutaneous MWA in patients with sHCC, and in patients undergoing intra-operative treatment with perfluorobutane or sulfur hexafluoride. In both groups, a contrast agent was injected to clear the tumor and then a needle was inserted. A 5-point needle prick difficulty score was developed to compare needle prick difficulty in the two groups of cases. RESULTS: A total of 67 patients were included: 25 patients in group perfluorobutane, aged 41-82 (60.64±9.46), tumor size 1.1-2.8 (1.78±0.45) cm. 42 patients in group sulfur hexafluoride, aged 38-78 (62.26±9.27), with tumor size of 1.1-3.0 (1.89±0.49) cm. There was no significant difference in age or tumor size in both groups (P > 0.05). Puncture difficulty score (5-point): 2.0-2.7 (2.28±0.29) in group perfluorobutane, and 2.0-4.7 (2.95±0.85) in group sulfur hexafluoride, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Enhanced imaging results within 3 months after surgery: complete ablation rate was 100% (25/25) in the group perfluorobutane, 95.2% (40/42 in the group sulfur hexafluoride), with no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Perfluorobutane kupffer phase can make the operator accurately deploy the ablation needle and reduce the difficulty of operation.

Hybrid strategy of graphene/carbon nanotube hierarchical networks for highly sensitive, flexible wearable strain sensors.

One-dimensional and two-dimensional materials are widely used to compose the conductive network atop soft substrate to form flexible strain sensors for several wearable electronic applications. However, limited contact area and layer misplacement hinder the rapid development of flexible strain sensors based on 1D or 2D materials. To overcome these drawbacks above, we proposed a hybrid strategy by combining 1D carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and 2D graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and the developed strain sensor based on CNT-GNP hierarchical networks showed remarkable sensitivity and tenability. The strain sensor can be stretched in excess of 50% of its original length, showing high sensitivity (gauge factor 197 at 10% strain) and tenability (recoverable after 50% strain) due to the enhanced resistive behavior upon stretching. Moreover, the GNP-CNT hybrid thin film shows highly reproducible response for more than 1000 loading cycles, exhibiting long-term durability, which could be attributed to the GNPs conductive networks significantly strengthened by the hybridization with CNTs. Human activities such as finger bending and throat swallowing were monitored by the GNP-CNT thin film strain sensor, indicating that the stretchable sensor could lead to promising applications in wearable devices for human motion monitoring.

Ultra-sensitive and plasmon-tunable graphene photodetectors for micro-spectrometry.

We demonstrate an ultra-sensitive photodetector based on a graphene/monolayer MoS2 vertical heterostructure working at room temperature. Highly confined plasmon waves are efficiently excited through a periodic array of monolayer graphene ribbons in which plasmon resonance has remarkably large oscillator strength, resulting in a sharp optical absorption peak in the normal-incidence transmission spectrum. A significant amount of electron-hole pairs are produced in graphene ribbons by optical absorption, separated by the built-in electric field across the graphene/MoS2 heterojunction. The responsivity reaches up to 1 × 107 A W-1 at room temperature due to very strong resonance in the heterostructure, yielding a highly sensitive graphene-based photodetector. Additionally, the absorption can be tuned over a wide spectral range (6-16 µm) by varying gate biasing. The ultra-sensitive, spectrally tunable photodetector could be potentially used as a promising candidate for mid-infrared micro-spectrometers.