[Methodology and clinical use of superb microvascular imaging in assessing micro-circulation changes of fingertips in systemic sclerosis].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of superb microvascular imaging (SMI) in evaluating microcirculation damage of the finger of systemic sclerosis (SSc), and determining the optimal scanning method by assessing the effect of scanning position (finger pulp or nail bed), plane (transverse or sagittal) and Doppler gain on the results. METHODS: In the study, 32 SSc patients and 32 non-SSc volunteers admitted to Peking University Third Hospital from February to October 2022 were included. The SMI image under different gain set (40 dB or 35 dB) of the third fingertip (sagittal scans or transverse scan of nail bed or pulp) of both hands were collected while vascular index (VI) was measured. RESULTS: Non-SSc volunteer presented abundant SMI signal distributed in the third fingertip. Arteriole of nail bed was observed on the dorsal side of the distal phalanx under SMI and gave off multiple vertical branches towards the nail. The arteriole of finger pulp ran parallel to the skin and gave off vertical branches towards the skin distributing subcutaneously as a network. In SSc group, the SMI signal in nail bed and finger pulp was reduced. The arteriole of nail bed and finger pulp was discontinuous and presented as sporadic dots and short rod-like color signal under SMI. The vascular index of the SSc patients was significantly lower than that of the non-SSc controls (P < 0.001). Among different positions and sections, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the sagittal plane of nail bed was the highest. Under low gain, the AUC of sagittal plane of nail bed was 0.871, the cut-off value was 5.4%, the sensitivity was 90.6%, and the specificity was 74.2%. Under high gain, the AUC was 0.893, the cut-off value was 14.0%, the sensitivity was 75.0%, and the specificity was 93.6%. Multivariate analysis showed that there was statistical significance on the diagnostic impact of the sagittal plane of nail bed (P < 0.005 for high gain condition; P < 0.05 for low gain condition). CONCLUSION: SMI can be used to evaluate the abnormal changes of vascular in patients with SSc. Using the sagittal scan of nail bed with high gain can evaluate the vascular loss of the fingertip in SSc patient accurately and specifically.

[Comparative study of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of asymptomatic anterosuperior acetabular labrum tears].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of ultrasound for asymptomatic anterosuperior acetabular labral tears (ALT). METHODS: From August 2018 to February 2020, a total of 64 asymptomatic volunteers (101 hips) were recruited to complete 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound examination. Among these asymptomatic volunteers, 31 were male and 33 were female, with the median age 35 (32, 39) years. Using 3.0T MRI findings as golden standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of ultrasound were calculated. RESULTS: The results showed the presence of unilateral or bilateral ALT in 33 (51.56%) asymptomatic vo-lunteers with a total of 47 hips (46.53%). Of the 37 asymptomatic volunteers with bilateral hip MRI examination, 14 had bilateral ALT and 8 had unilateral ALT. Of the 27 asymptomatic volunteers who underwent unilateral hip MRI, 11 had ALT. Of the 33 asymptomatic volunteers with labral tears, 11 were male and 22 were female, with 30 right hips and 17 left hips. The median age was 36 (33, 40) years in the ALT group and 34 (32, 38) years in the non-ALT group. There was no significant difference in age between the two groups (P > 0.05). In the asymptomatic population, the abnormal anterosuperior acetabular labrum manifestations on ultrasound were intra-labrum cleft in 26 cases, labral heterogeneous echogenicity in 25 cases, paralabral cysts in 2 cases, and labral focal hyperechoic area in 12 cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy for ALT diagnosed by ultrasound were 73.53%, 67.16%, 53.19%, 83.33% and 69.31%, respectively. The cross- sectional area (CSA) of the anterosuperior acetabular labrum was 0.20 (0.15, 0.24) cm2 in this study. The labral median CSA of the ALT group and non-ALT group were 0.22 (0.17, 0.28) cm2 and 0.17 (0.14, 0.21) cm2, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The ALT are common findings in asymptomatic volunteers on MRI. Intra-labrum cleft and labral heterogeneous echogenicity are common ultrasonographic signs in asymptomatic volunteers with ALT. The labra were more swollen in the asymptomatic volunteers with ALT compared to those without ALT.

[Comparison of diagnostic efficacy of different classification criteria for Takayasu arteritis in Chinese patients].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic efficiency of the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for Takayasu arteritis (TA) and the 2022 ACR classification criteria for TA in Chinese populations. METHODS: The clinical and imaging data of TA patients and patients with arterial stenosis or occlusion caused by atherosclerosis who were admitted to Peking University Third Hospital from May 2012 to May 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical diagnosis of TA by two rheumatologists were defined as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy and the area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC) of the above two classification criteria were compared. In addition, this study also attempted to apply new imaging modalities, such as color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS), computed tomography angiography (CTA), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in the 1990 ACR classification criteria to find whether this approach would improve the diagnostic efficiency. At the same time, the imaging features of the two groups were compared. RESULTS: The sensitivity (91.75%), positive predictive value (94.68%), negative predictive value (92.79%), accuracy (93.66%) and AUC (0.979) of the 2022 ACR TA classification criteria were better than those of the 1990 ACR TA classification criteria (45.36%, 91.67%, 66.24%, 72.20% and 0.855, respectively). In addition, we included new imaging modalities, such as CDUS, CTA, MRA and PET/CT in the 1990 ACR TA classification criteria, and the sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy and AUC were significantly improved, which were 63.92%, 92.54%, 74.64%, 80.49% and 0.959, respectively, but still lower than those of the 2022 ACR classification criteria of TA (P < 0.001). The TA patients had more arterial stenosis (P=0.030), while the atherosclerosis patients had more arterial occlusion (P=0.021). There was no significant difference in arterial aneurysm or dissection (P=0.171). The TA patients had more involvement of ≥3 arteries (P=0.013), while the atherosclerosis patients had more unique artery involvement (P=0.011). CONCLUSION: Compared with the 1990 ACR classification criteria for TA, the 2022 ACR classification criteria had higher diagnostic efficiency and might be more sui-table for the Chinese populations. Using more imaging modalities would improve the diagnostic perfor-mance of 1990 ACR classification criteria.

[Applicational value of 2017 ACR TI-RADS stratification in diagnosing thyroid nodules].

OBJECTIVE: To summarize and evaluate the value of applying the thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) released by American College of Radiology (ACR) in 2017 of the thyroid classification, and to propose an optimized classification method based on the result to facilitate more accurate and precise risk stratification of thyroid nodules. METHODS: In the study, 342 thyroid nodules assessed by 2017 ACR TI-RADS were retrospectively analyzed. Each nodule had a score, and all the scores of nodules were compared with the pathological results. The proportion of malignant nodules in different scoring ranges was obtained. The diagnostic efficacy of all nodules, nodules above 1 cm and less than or equal to 1 cm was evaluated by ROC curve, respectively. RESULTS: The AUC of all nodules, nodules above 1 cm and less than or equal to 1 cm were 0.907, 0.936 and 0.717, respectively. With the increase of the scores, the proportion of benign nodules decreased gradually, and the proportion of malignant nodules increased, especially nodules of 4-6 scores increased significantly. Based on the proportion of malignant nodules with 3 scores, the proportion of malignant nodules with 4, 5 and 6 scores increased 1.6, 3.8 and 5.3 times, respectively. The proportion of malignant nodules with 6-8 scores was 81%-84%, while the proportion of malignant nodules with 9 scores or more was 93%-94%. According to the distribution characteristics of malignant nodules, the classification of TI-RADS was adjusted. TI-RADS 4 was divided into TI-RADS 4a, TI-RADS 4b and TI-RADS 4c, corresponding to 4, 5 and 6-8 scores respectively, while the nodules with 9 scores or more were divided into TI-RADS 5. CONCLUSION: 2017 ACR TI-RADS has high diagnostic value for thyroid nodules above 1 cm, but it is not so effective for the nodules less than or equal to 1 cm. According to the proportion distribution of malignant nodules in different scoring ranges, appropriate adjustment of classification will be more accurate and precisely predict the malignant risk of nodules.

[Application of ultrasound-guided hip joint drug injection in the postoperative rehabilitation of arthroscopie repair of acetabular labral tears].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical application of ultrasound-guided hip joint drug injection in the postoperative rehabilitation of arthroscopie repair of acetabular labral tears. METHODS: This research retrospectively analyzed a total of 38 hips from 36 patients (2 of them were bilateral) whose imaging examination showed acetabular labral well healed but the rehabilitating training was limited due to hip pain after arthroscopie repair of acetabular labral tears in our hospital between June 2015 and May 2017. All the patients underwent ultrasound-guided hip joint drug injection treatment. Through comparing the pain and the function of hip before and after drug injection, the clinical application values of ultrasound-guided hip joint drug injection in the postoperative rehabilitation of arthroscopie repair of acetabular labral tears were explored. The degree of hip pain was assessed by visual analogue score (VAS), which were scored before and after the injection. The hip function was assessed by the hip range of activity. The SPSS 21.0 statistical software was used for the data analysis. The effective rate of hip injection was calculated, which was defined as: ("excellent" + "good")/total number of cases×100%. The degree of hip pain was assessed by VAS, which was divided into 0 to 10 points with 0 for no pain and 10 for unbearable severe pain. The function of hip was assessed by the hip range of activity. The therapeutic effect of "excellent" meant no pain or occasional slight pain in the hip, along with Patrick test was negative and hip joint was not limited; the therapeutic effect of "good" meant that the pain was significantly reduced, and the hip's activity was slightly restricted. "No effect" meant that the pain of hip was not relieved, and the Patrick test was positive. RESULTS: The VAS score of the patient before drug injection was 5.46±1.46, and the VAS score was 2.01±0.53 after drug injection 4 weeks later. The score of the latter was significantly lower than that of the former, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The hip joint activity after ultrasound-guided hip joint drug injection was significantly improved. The therapeutic effective rate was 84.2%. CONCLUSION: For patients with hip pain and limitations after arthroscopie repair of acetabular labral tears, ultrasound-guided drug injection can effectively reduce hip pain, improve hip activity, and promote hip functional reconstruction.

[Xanthogranulonatous pyelonephritis: report of 5 cases].

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP) is an unusual form of chronic pyelonephritis in which the renal parenchyma is destroyed and replaced by lipid-laden foamy macrophages. It usually affects middle-aged women with a history of recurrent urinary tract infection, diabetes, or kidney stones. The inflammatory process is usually diffuse and can extend beyond the kidney. The rare focal forms may simulate primary renal tumours. The preoperative imaging diagnosis may be difficult. We reported five cases of XGP, The findings of ours were recorded including kidney size, shape, contour, the echogenecity of the renal parenchyma, the internal echoes of the dilate collecting system, the presence of perinephric fluid accumulation and obstruction. One of the 5 cases was a male patient, and the other four were female, with a mean age of 53 years. He affected kidneys of the 5 cases swelled in different degrees, and one of them was found with line-like anechoic fluid. Among the 5 cases, one kidney appeared as diffusely reducing of the parenchyma echogenicity, multiple hypoechoic areas, disappearance of corticomedullary differentiation and multiple hyperecho with shadow. A round cystic anechoic lesion was found in one kidney, with internal punctate echo and peripheral fluid. Ultrasonographic finding of 1 case was extremely hypoechoic lesion on the left kidney, protruding from the outline of the kidney, with the partial renal capsule discontinuous, the less clear boundary, and a little blood flow in it. Ultrasonographic demonstration of 2 cases was mild dilatation of the collecting system with irregular wall thickening and internal hypoechogenicity, and 1 case was solid lesion with less clear boundary to the pelvic wall and a small amount of blood flow signal, the another 1 case was showed floccule without internal blood flow. Three cases were caused by chronic obstruction verified by operation, of which one was staghorn calculi, one was poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma in the middle part of the ureter, and one was inflammatory stricture of upper ureteral. Through analysis of the above five cases and review of related literature, we explored diagnoses and management of the patients with XGP. Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP) is a rare chronic variant of pyelonephritis characterized by destruction of the renal parenchyma. Combining ultrasonographic features of XGP with clinical recurrent urinary infection and chronic obstruction, XGP can be included in the differentiation. The diagnosis of XGP suspected by ultrasound can be clarified by CT, MRI, contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Renal Ewing's sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor: a case report and literature review.

Ewing's sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor (EWS/PNET) in the kidney is a rare but high-grade malignant tumor that affects predominantly elder children and adolescents. Patients mostly present with nonspecific symptoms such as abdominal pain and gross hematuria. Since EWS/PNET has a rapid clinical progression with early metastasis and death, it is essential to make an accurate and early diagnosis. Once diagnosed, multimodality treatment, including radical surgery combined with adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiotherapy if necessary, is recommended. Unfortunately, there are no characteristic signsthat have been described in ultrasonography or any other imaging modalities so far. The diagnosis of EWS/PNET is now based on a classical histological and immunohistochemical investigation complemented by a demonstration of specific chromosomal changes. Strong immunoreactivity to CD99 is ubiquitous, and t(11;22) translocation is seen in approximately 90% of EWS/PNET. Herein, we report a patient with such condition. The patient was a young woman, and she presented with sudden right flank pain clinically. Ultrasonography revealed a large heterogeneous mass in the lower pole of her right kidney. The tumor compressed the renal pelvis and led to upper pole caliectasis. Color Doppler demonstrated blood flow with a pulsatile arterialized waveform within the mass. The patient received radical nephrectomy with right renal vein and vena cava thrombectomy. A search for other sites of tumor involvement yielded negative results. And six cycles of chemotherapy were sequentially performed. The diagnosis of EWS/PNET was confirmed based on primitive small round cell histology and characteristic immunohistochemical results. She was still alive with no evidence of recurrence five years after initial diagnosis. We would like to point out that ultrasound is still a useful method for initial assessment, and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration may play an important role in determining preoperative diagnosis.

[Application of ultrasound for evaluation of anterosuperior acetabular labral tear].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the value of ultrasound in the diagnosis of anterosuperior acetabular labral tear. METHODS: A total of 102 patients [(42 males and 60 females, age from 13 to 60 years, average age was (35.14±9.16) years] with suspected anterosuperior acetabular labral tear were included in this study, including 44 left hip joints and 58 right hip joints. All the patients received hip joint ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation before arthroscopy surgery. Using arthroscopy as golden standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy between ultrasound and MRI were calculated and compared. RESULTS: There were 91 antero-superior acetabular labral tears of 102 patients which were confirmed during arthroscopy surgery. Sixty-nine patients were diagnosed correctly by ultrasound, including 60 anterosuperior acetabular labral tears and 9 with no acetabular labral tears, whereas 2 were false-positive and 31 were found to be false-negative. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy by ultrasound were respectively 65.93%, 81.82%, 96.77%, 22.50% and 67.65%. In contrast, seventy-seven patients were diagnosed correctly by MRI, including 70 anterosuperior acetabular labral tears and 7 with no acetabular labral tears, whereas 4 were false-positive and 21 were found to be false-negative. For MRI, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were respectively 76.92%, 63.64%, 94.59%, 25.00% and 75.49%. The results of ultrasound and MRI were in accordance in 68 of the 102 patients. There were 51 anterosuperior acetabular labral tears of the 68 patients who were diagnosed by both ultrasound and MRI, whereas there were 17 with no acetabular labral tears of the 68 patients who were diagnosed by both ultrasound and MRI. The results of ultrasound and MRI were inconsistent in 34 of the 102 patients. In 11 of the 34 patients, in which case ultrasound diagnosed anterosuperior acetabular labral tear, MRI found no acetabular labral tear. Whereas, in 23 of the 34 patients, in which case MRI diagnosed anterosuperior acetabular labral tear, ultrasound found no acetabular labral tear. As compared with MRI findings, ultrasound had a lower accuracy for anterosuperior acetabular labral tear than MRI, there was statistical difference on the accuracy for anterosuperior acetabular labral tear (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Although ultrasound had a slightly lower sensitivity for anterosuperior acetabular labral tear, it had a higher specificity than MRI. Dynamic evaluation of antero-superior acetabular labral tear is an advantage of ultrasound. Ultrasound could be used as a feasible method to evaluate anterosuperior acetabular labral tear.

Differentiation of pleomorphic adenoma and Warthin's tumour of the salivary gland: is long-to-short diameter ratio a useful parameter?

AIM: To determine the utility of the long-to-short diameter ratio (L/S ratio) and other sonographic features in the differentiation of pleomorphic adenoma (PA) and Warthin's tumour (WT) of the salivary gland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From 2003 to 2013, 100 patients with 100 PAs and WTs were included in this ethics committee-approved retrospective study. For each lesion, B-mode sonographic and colour Doppler images were obtained and the L/S ratios were calculated. Surgical excision and histopathological examination were accomplished in all cases. Differences between the L/S ratio and other sonographic features for PA and WT were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 100 salivary tumours, 80 were located in the parotid (37 PAs and 43 WTs), and 20 were in the submandibular gland (19 PAs and one WT). In the parotid, the L/S ratio was 1.38±0.21 for PA and 1.73±0.46 for WT. The L/S ratio of the WTs was higher than that of the PAs (p<0.001). Applying a cut-off of 1.519, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for differentiation of PA and WT in the parotid were 69.8%, 81.1%, and 75%, respectively; however, the accuracy dropped to 42.9% in diagnosing masses with ≥50% macroscopic cystic structures. When those masses were excluded, the accuracy rose to 78.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The L/S ratio when used with other ultrasound features aids differentiation between PA and WT in the parotid gland; however, masses with macroscopic cystic structures ≥50% should not be judged by this parameter.

Feasibility of 3D ultrasound to evaluate upper extremity nerves.

PURPOSE: This study investigates the performance of a 3 D Ultrasound (US) system in imaging elbow and wrist nerves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers with asymptomatic median, ulnar and radial nerves were prospectively investigated. Bilateral 3DUS scans of the elbows and wrists were acquired by using a commercially available US scanner (18 MHz, AplioXG, Toshiba) and stored as a 3 D volume by a dedicated software (CURE, Robarts Research Institute). Retrospectively, qualitative (image quality, atypical nerve location, findings potentially associated with compression neuropathy) and quantitative (cross-sectional area measurements) evaluations were performed. RESULTS: In all 200 nerves 3DUS was feasible (100%). Image quality was insufficient in 13.5% (25 ulnar nerve elbow, 2 radial nerve) and sonomorphology was not assessable in those nerves. Measurement of cross sectional areas was feasible in all nerves (100%). Median cross-sectional area (range) were: median nerve elbow 7 mm2 (6-9), radial nerve 3 mm2 (1-4), ulnar nerve elbow 8 mm2 (5-11), median nerve wrist 8 mm2 (5-10), and ulnar nerve wrist 4 mm2 (2-6). No significant changes in nerve cross-sectional area along each nerve was found. Ulnar nerve subluxation was found in 2 nerves (6.7%). No anconeus epitrochlearis muscle or osteophytes were found. CONCLUSION: 3DUS is a feasible method for assessing nerves of the upper extremity and has been shown to provide a good overview of the median, ulnar and radial nerve at the elbow and wrist, but is limited for evaluation of the ulnar nerve in the cubital tunnel. This technique enables reliable measurements at different locations along the nerve.