Diagnostic Accuracy of CT-Guided Percutaneous Pulmonary Biopsy for Distinguishing Benign and Malignant Solitary Pulmonary Nodules.

Background: Isolated pulmonary nodules (SPNs) are small, circular lesions within lung tissue, often challenging to diagnose due to their size and lack of typical imaging features. Timely diagnosis is crucial for treatment decisions. However, the difficulty in qualitative diagnosis necessitates clinical biopsies. Objective: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy for SPNs and identify potential risk factors for malignancy. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 112 patients with SPNs who underwent CT-guided core needle biopsy (CT-CNB) between June 2020 and June 2022. Histological and cytological results were obtained for all patients, and clinical data and imaging characteristics were compared between benign and malignant SPN groups. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze risk factors for malignancy, and complications were observed. Results: Cytological and histological specimens were successfully obtained for all patients. The cohort consisted of 43 patients with benign SPNs and 69 with malignant SPNs. Among the malignant SPN group, 67 cases were confirmed via CT-CNB and 2 through surgery, resulting in a sensitivity of 97.10% and specificity of 100.00%. The malignant nodules comprised 45 adenocarcinomas, 14 squamous cell carcinomas, 8 metastatic tumors, and 2 small cell carcinomas. Notably, 2 initially diagnosed as malignant cases were found to have chronic inflammation on preoperative biopsy but revealed adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma post-surgery. The benign nodules encompassed 20 granulomatous inflammation cases, 15 chronic inflammation, 3 fungal granulomas, 2 hamartomas, and 1 fibrous tissue. Cytological smears exhibited a sensitivity of 81.3% and a specificity of 100.0% for malignancy. Significantly, age ≥60, elevated tumor markers, and specific imaging signs (burr, foliation, pleural pull) were identified as risk factors for malignant SPNs using Binary Logistic regression (all P < .05). Conclusions: CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy demonstrates excellent diagnostic efficacy and safety for distinguishing benign and malignant SPNs.

[Coagulative and fibrinolytic changes in patients with essential hypertension and the effect of sustained-release nifedipine].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of coagulation and fibrinolysis status in patients with essential hypertension (EH) and observe the therapeutic effect of sustained-release nifedipine. METHODS: Ninety-nine EH patients were divided according to their diastolic blood pressure (DBP) into mild group (48 cases), moderate group (29 cases) and severe group (22 cases), and 25 patients among the groups were chosen at random to receive sustained-release nifedipine for 2 weeks. Twenty healthy subjects served as control group. Plasma D-dimer (DD), fibrin monomer (FM) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) levels were determined in all the subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The plasma DD and FM levels were much higher, while tPA level was much lower in hypertensives than those of normal controls, exacerbating with the severity of the disease. DBP was positively correlated with plasma FM level (r=0.374,P<0.001). In patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricular enlargement and left atrial enlargement, higher levels of DD, FM and tPA were detected. Nifedipine treatment produced significant reduction in plasma DD and FM levels along with the increase in tPA level [DD: (40.7+/-23.5) mg/dl vs (23.8+/-16.5) mg/dl; FM: (7.0+/-1.6) ng/microliter vs (4.8+/-1.5) ng/microliter tPA: (0.31+/-0.14) ng/ml vs(0.41+/-0.05) ng/ml, P<0.001]. CONCLUSION: Enhanced coagulative activity and lowered fibrinolytic activity characterize EH patients and nifedipine may correct this disorder.