The diagnostic value of second ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration for thyroid nodules.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of doing a second ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (US-FNA) for thyroid nodules of different sizes that could not be diagnosed by the first US-FNA. METHODS: One hundred and forty-three patients (162 nodules) were diagnosed with suspected malignant thyroid nodules in a routine ultrasound examination, but since the diagnosis could not be confirmed by the cytology of the samples collected in the first US-FNA, the patients underwent US-FNA again 3 months later. The ultrasound results, cytology results, and postoperative pathology of these nodules were collected. The nodules were divided into three groups according to the largest diameter (L) of the thyroid nodules: Group 1, L < 0.5 cm, 26 nodules; Group 2, L = 0.5-1.0 cm, 76 nodules; and Group 3, L > 1.0 cm, 60 nodules. RESULTS: In the second US-FNA, the overall diagnosis rate of the 162 thyroid nodules that could not be given a definitive diagnosis by the first US-FNA was 51.8% (84/162). The definitive diagnosis rates of the nodules in Groups 1, 2, and 3 were 30.8% (8/26), 67.1% (51/76), and 41.7% (25/60), respectively. The diagnosis rate was the highest in Group 2, and the differences between this group and the other two groups were statistically significant (χ2  = 10.489, 8.801, p < 0.05 for both). The diagnostic accuracy rates of Groups 1, 2, and 3 were 100% (8/8), 96.1% (49/51), and 92% (23/25), respectively. CONCLUSION: Second US-FNA is highly recommended for such nodules.

Value of Ultrasound-Guided Biopsy in Evaluating Internal Mammary Lymph Node Metastases in Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVES: This retrospective study aimed to assess the value of a real-time, ultrasound-guided biopsy in evaluating internal mammary lymph nodes (IMLNs) in breast cancer. METHODS: Patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent real-time, ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy (CNB) or fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in suspected IMLN metastasis were retrospectively analyzed. Patient information and ultrasonographic images were reviewed and correlated with pathology results. RESULTS: Of the 164 IMLNs that were subjected to CNB, 131 were positive for metastasis by histopathologic confirmation, 8 were negative, and 25 were insufficient. By FNA, 84 IMLNs were regarded as positive for metastasis, 4 were negative, and 4 were insufficient. In total, there were 215 (83.98%) metastatic IMLNs, 12 benign IMLNs, and 29 unconfirmed by histopathology. There were statistically significant differences in the success of puncture sampling and detection of IMLN metastasis between the CNB and FNA groups (P < .05). There were no significant complications reported after FNA or CNB, including bleeding, nerve injury, infection, pneumothorax, or hemothorax. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that ultrasonography accurately detected nodes that were likely to be malignant IMLNs, and that real-time, ultrasound-guided CNB and FNA are accurate and valuable techniques for the determination of status in breast cancer patients. Moreover, performing ultrasound-guided CNB and FNA on suspicious IMLN metastasis does not have additional severe complications.

Fluorescence Turn-On Detection of Ascorbic Acid Using a Self-Assembled Lanthanide Polymer Nanoparticle.

Ascorbic acid (AA), or vitamin C, is an important reactive biological molecule in vivo, and an abnormal level of AA is associated with many diseases. Therefore, the rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of AA levels is of significance in cases of medical assay and diagnosis. Compared with other nanoparticles, lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticles (Ln-CPs) have been demonstrated as the excellent biomolecule sensing platforms due to their unique optical properties and intrinsic porosities. In this work, the cerium coordination polymer nanoparticles ATP-Ce-Tris were synthesized in a simple and quick way. The synthesized ATP-Ce-Tris nanoparticle shows the characteristic peak of Ce3+ located at 365 nm, which is corresponding to the 4f→5d transition of Ce3+. In the presence of Fe3+, the fluorescence of ATP-Ce-Tris quenched, and the following added ascorbic acid (AA) makes it restoring effectively. Based on this, we constructed a fluorescence probe with excellent sensitivity for AA sensing in a wide linear relationship from 0.05 to 500 µM. The detection limit was as low as 18 nM (signal-to-noise ratio of three), which is one or two orders of magnitude lower than those of reported sensors. The proposed sensing systems also exhibits excellent sensitivity for AA detection in human serum sample, exploiting a valuable platform for AA analysis in clinic diagnostic and drug screening.