Internal carotid artery pseudoaneurysm caused by parapharyngeal abscess: A case report / 北京大学学报(医学版)

Pseudoaneurysms of the neck are seldom, and those caused by neck infections especially parapharyngeal abscess are even rarer. However, it is life-threatening and may bring sudden death due to the obstruction of airway and the pseudoaneurysms rupture. We analyzed the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of the disease through a case summary and literature review in order to guide clinical diagnosis and treatment of pseudoaneurysms. The patient, whom we presented was an 87-year-old male and admitted in emergency of our hospital with the chief complaint of neck swelling for 7 days and shortness of breath for 2 days. Cervical ultrasound examination showed that there was an liquid dark area next to the left common carotid artery which was approximately 8.0 cm × 5.0 cm, consideration of formation of left carotid artery pseudoaneurysm, and the liquid dark area which was visible on the right considered of pseudoaneurysm or infection. Angiography of neck showed a clustered high-density shadow around the bifurcation of the left carotid artery, with an overall range of approximately 65 mm × 52 mm × 72 mm, the pseudoaneurysms for sure, while on the right side of the lesion, mixed low density shadows with air could be seen, the parapharyngeal abscess for sure.Then he was diagnosed as the pseudoaneurysm of left internal carotid artery which was caused by parapharyngeal abscess. After tracheal intubation and anti-infection treatment, the patient died due to hemorrhagic shock of the ruptured of the pseudoaneurysm. Morever we performed literature search on PubMed, Wanfang database and CNKI with keywords of "neck pseudoaneurysm, neck infection, parapharyngeal abscess" and enrolled 10 cases. Then we summarized the clinical characteristics and treatment. We analyzed and summarized the 10 case reports, in which the number of male was 7. Among them, there were 4 pediatric, and 6 adults were enrolled overall. Most of the symptoms were neck swelling, and the diseased blood vessel was mainly the right internal carotid artery which accounted for half overall. All the patients underwent surgical intervention, and recovered well. So we draw the conclusion that the clinical incidence of cervical pseudoaneurysms is low and can be caused by a variety of factors, especially caused by infectious factors. When a patient has a progressive pulsating mass in the neck, the preliminary diagnosis should be made by ultrasound as soon as possible, and the aortic enhancement CT should be used to further confirm.For a patient with cervical pseudo-aneurysms caused by parapharyngeal infections, he should take operation timely combined with antibiotic treatment in time.

Chemerin promotes microangiopathy in diabetic retinopathy via activation of ChemR23 in rat primary microvascular endothelial cells.

Purpose: The correlation between chemerin and diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been demonstrated previously. We aimed to investigate the potential inflammatory and angiogenic roles of chemerin in DR using rat primary retinal microvascular endothelial cells (RRMECs). Methods: RRMECs were incubated in low- and high-glucose media, and stable chemerin receptor (ChemR23) knockdown in RRMECs was established by lentiviral infection. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blotting were employed to investigate the mRNA and protein expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and the interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) to explore the inflammatory and angiogenic effects of chemerin. A scratch assay was employed to evaluate the effect of chemerin on RRMEC migration. Results: Chemerin and TNF-α markedly increased the mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1 in RRMECs (p<0.001). ChemR23 knockdown may have decreased the ICAM-1 expression under low- and high-glucose conditions (p<0.001). Even in the ChemR23-knockdown group, TNF-α significantly increased the mRNA and protein levels of ICAM-1 under low- and high-glucose conditions (p<0.001). Chemerin promoted VEGF expression under low- and high-glucose conditions. ChemR23 knockdown markedly decreased VEGF levels under low- and high-glucose conditions (p<0.05) and significantly decreased RRMEC migration (p<0.001). Conclusions: Chemerin promotes the expression of ICAM-1, the secretion of VEGF, and the migration of RRMECs via the activation of ChemR23.

Comparison of pulse pressure variation, stroke volume variation, and plethysmographic variability index in pediatric patients undergoing craniotomy / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To compare well-known preload dynamic parameters intraoperatively including stroke volume variation (SVV), pulse pressure variation (PPV), and plethysmographic variability index (PVI) in children who underwent craniotomy for epileptogenic lesion excision.@*METHODS@#A total of 30 children aged 0 to 14 years undergoing craniotomy for intracranial epileptogenic lesion excision were enrolled. During surgery, we measured PPV, SVV (measured by the Flotrac/Vigileo device), and PVI (measured by the Masimo Radical-7 monitor) simultaneously and continuously. Preload dynamic parameter measurements were collected at predefined steps: after induction of anesthesia, during opening the skull, intraoperative electroencephalogram monitoring, excision of epileptogenic lesion, skull closure, at the end of the operation. After exclusion of outliers, agreement among SVV, PPV, and PVI was assessed using repeated measures of Bland-Altman approach. The 4-quadrant and polar plot techniques were used to assess the trending ability among the changes in the three parameters.@*RESULTS@#The mean SVV, PPV, and PVI were 8%±2%, 10%±3%, and 15%±7%, respectively during surgery. We analyzed a total of 834 paired measurements (3 to 8 data sets for each phase per patient). Repeated measures Bland-Altman analysis identified a bias of -2.3 and 95% confidence intervals between -1.9 and -2.7 (95% limits of agreement between -6.0 and 1.5) between PPV and SVV, showing significant correlation at all periods. The bias between PPV and PVI was -5.0 with 95% limits of agreement between -20.5 and 10.5, and that between SVV and PVI was -7.5 with 95% limits of agreement between -22.7 and 7.8, both not showing significant correlation. Reflected by 4-quadrant plots, the con-cordance rates showing the trending ability between the changes in PPV and SVV, PPV and PVI, SVV and PVI were 88.6%, 50.4%, and 50.1%, respectively. The concordance rate between PPV and SVV was higher (92.7%) in children aged less than 3 years compared with those aged 3 and more than 3 years. The mean angular bias, radial limits of agreement, and angular concordance rate in the polar analysis were not clinically acceptable in the changes between arterial pressure waveform-based parameters and volume-based PVI (PPV vs. PVI: angular mean bias 8.4°, angular concordance rate 29.9%; SVV vs. PVI: angular mean bias 2.4°, angular concordance rate 29.1%). There was a high concordance between the two arterial pressure waveform-based parameters reflected by the polar plot (angular mean bias -0.22°, angular concordance rate 86.6%).@*CONCLUSION@#PPV can be viewed as a surrogate for SVV, especially in children aged less than 3 years. The agreement between arterial pressure waveform-based preload parameters (PPV and SVV) and PVI is poor and these two should not be considered interchangeable. Attempt to combine PVI and PPV for improving the anesthesiologist's ability to monitor cardiac preload in major pediatric surgery is warranted.

Protective effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes on smoke inhalation injury in rats / 医学研究生学报

Objective Acute lung injury induced by variety causes can be reduced by mesenchymal stem cells.Some studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes have similar features with mesenchymal stem cell,but its role in acute lung injury is less studied.The study was to investigate the protective role and underlying mechanisms of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-DEs) on smoke inhalation injury (SⅡ) in rats.Methods Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 equal groups:normal control group,smoke inhalation injury (SⅡ) model group and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-DEs) treated group.12 h after establishing the SⅡ model,BMSC-DEs treated group was injected with 0.5 mL BMSC-DEs (derived from 4× 106 BMSCs),and normal control group and SⅡ model group were injected with equivalent volume of normal saline.7 days later,samples were collected.The histopathologic changes of lung were observed after HE staining;BCA was used to test the amounts of total protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF);Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to test the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in the lung tissue;Immunohistochemical was used to test the levels of pulmonary surfactant protein C(SP-C).Results The BALF levels of total protein of SⅡ group was significantly higher than those of normal control group (P＜0.01) and BMSC-DEs groups(P＜0.05);Compared with normal group [(0.164±0.021) ng/L],the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α of SII and BMSC-DEs groups [(0.355±0.106)、(0.234±0.024) ng/L] (P＜ 0.05) were significantly higher,and SⅡ group was higher than that of BMSC-DEs group(P＜0.01);Compared with normal group,the KGF protein expression level in lung tissue of SⅡ group was significantly lower (P＜0.05),but BMSC-DEs group was higher (P＜0.05).BMSC-DEs group was higher than SⅡ group (P＜0.01);Immunohistochemistry showed that the SP-C expression level in lung tissue of SⅡ group was significantly lower than those of other groups (P＜0.05).There was no statistically difference between BMSC-DEs group and control group (P＞0.05).Conclusion BMSC-DEs has a protective effect of smoke inhalation injury rats,the underlying mechanism may be related to BMSC-DEs to reduce inflammation and promote restoration of the alveolar epithelial type Ⅱ.