Skin cancer discovery during total body skin examinations.

BACKGROUND: Patients presenting with a site-specific skin complaint may receive a total body skin examination (TBSE) or a more focused examination. A TBSE may be time-consuming but can potentially detect unsuspected or early stage skin cancers. The purpose of this study was to assess the detection of skin cancers associated with dermatologist-initiated TBSE performed immediately after a focused skin examination on the same patients. METHODS: The dermatology records of patients with biopsy-proven melanoma, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) during a 2-year period were reviewed. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the odds of a lesion being identified by a dermatologist (rather than the patient or the patient's primary health care provider). RESULTS: A total 1563 biopsy-proven cutaneous malignancies were found on 1010 patients. Of these, 797 cancers (51%) were first identified by a dermatologist on TBSE and 764 (48.9%) by the patient or the referring provider. Among tumors first identified by dermatologists (n = 797), 553 (69%) were BCCs, 220 (28%) were SCCs, and 24 (3%) were melanomas. The mean Breslow depth was 0.53 mm (standard deviation: 0.31 mm) for melanomas found on TBSE versus 1.04 mm (standard deviation: 1.68 mm) if identified by patients or referring providers. BCCs were more likely to be identified by a dermatologist during a TBSE (n = 553 [56%] vs. n = 434 [44%]; odds ratio: 1.79; p < .001). Tumors ultimately diagnosed as SCCs were more often identified by patients or patients' primary care providers (n = 302 [58%]; odds ratio: 0.56; p < .001). However, 220 otherwise undetected SCCs were found during dermatologist-performed TBSE. CONCLUSION: Dermatologist-performed TBSEs identified numerous cutaneous malignancies that might otherwise have remained undiagnosed. Early detection of melanoma or nonmelanoma skin cancer by TBSEs may spare patients significant morbidity and mortality.

Diagnostic accuracy of true fast imaging with steady-state precession, MR pulmonary angiography and volume-interpolated body examination for pulmonary embolism compared with CT pulmonary angiography.

The diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance (MR) sequences for displaying different levels of pulmonary artery involvement in pulmonary embolism (PE) has rarely been reported but is essential for critically ill and emergency patients. The aim of the present study was to analyze the diagnostic accuracy of true fast imaging with steady-state precession (true FISP), MR pulmonary angiography (MRPA) and volume-interpolated body examination (VIBE) for PE detection in comparison to CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), which is the reference standard. A total of 21 patients with confirmed deep venous thrombosis suspected of having PE were enrolled. Emboli were evaluated on per-patient and per-vessel bases. The evidence of PE on a per-vessel basis was classified into central, lobar and segmental levels, and 27 vessel segments per patient were analyzed for a total of 567 vessel segments in all patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn to compare differences in sequences. A total of 158 pulmonary vessels were involved with emboli on CTPA, 58 of which were identified by true FISP, 63 by MRPA and 94 by VIBE. On per-patient and per-vessel bases, the sensitivity was 81.3 and 36.7%, respectively, for true FISP, 82.4 and 56.3%, respectively, for MRPA, and 94.4 and 68.1%, respectively, for VIBE; the specificity was 80.0 and 99.8%, respectively, for true FISP, 100 and 99.2%, respectively, for MRPA, and 100 and 99.2%, respectively, for VIBE. The respective PPV was 92.9 and 98.3% for true FISP, 100 and 95.5% for MRPA, 100 and 96.9% for VIBE. The NPV was 57.1 and 80.3%, respectively, for true FISP, 50.0 and 88.2%, respectively, for MRPA, and 75.0 and 89.8%, respectively, for VIBE. In conclusion, enhanced VIBE surpassed the other two sequences in revealing PE, particularly in segmental analysis, which is essential for emergency patients who have contraindications for receiving iodinated contrast and those who have concerns about the ionizing radiation.

Fat-suppressed magnetic resonance volume interpolated examination for deep venous thrombosis compared with duplex sonography.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate magnetic resonance venography (MRV) scanned by breath-hold volume interpolated body examination with spectral fat saturation (VIBE-fs), combined with Dixon fat-suppressed VIBE (VIBE-Dixon) by using a 1.5T MR scanner for detecting deep venous thrombosis (DVT) compared with duplex sonography. A total of 31 patients with DVT were identified using duplex sonography and were enrolled in the present study for MRV examination, from the inferior vena cava to the ankle level after injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine. Venous segment-to-segment comparison was assessed for DVT detection between MRV and duplex sonography. A total of two radiologists separately performed subjective image quality assessment using a 5-point scale. Cohen's κ coefficient, Wilcoxon rank sum test and intraclass correlation coefficient values were used for statistical analysis. Of the 303 evaluated vein segments, duplex sonography identified 119 (39.3%; 119/303) venous segments with thrombus, while MRV detected 170 (56.1%; 170/303) venous segments with thrombus. The diagnostic agreement rate of DVT between duplex sonography and MRV was poor in the deep femoral vein and anterior tibial veins, while it was excellent in the inferior vena cava (IVC), common iliac vein, external iliac vein, femoral vein, popliteal vein, posterior tibial veins and peroneal veins. In addition, poor reliability was detected in the deep femoral vein, anterior tibial veins and peroneal veins, but good to excellent reliability was observed in IVC, common iliac vein, external iliac vein, femoral vein, popliteal vein and posterior tibial veins. Furthermore, image quality scores of each venous segment between the two radiologists indicated no statistical difference. Therefore, MRV scanned using VIBE-fs for the suprainguinal and VIBE-Dixon for the infrainguinal region may be a useful method for detecting DVT compared with duplex sonography. The results of present study proved this MR protocol to be a beneficial alternative imaging modality for the detection of DVT when duplex sonography is inadequate or not able to be performed.

Comparative study of StarGVIBE and VIBE sequences in MRI of esophagus / 实用放射学杂志

Objective To explore the feasibility of the Star-VIBE sequence in esophageal MRI,and compare it with the conventional VIBE sequence.Methods Fifteen healthy volunteers underwent Star-VIBE and VIBE sequences scanning after injecting MRI contrast agent.Two groups of MR images were independently scored in the ability to display esophageal wall,respiratory motion artifacts,cardiovascular pulsation artifacts,overall motion artifacts and overall image quality by the two radiologists,respectively.SNR of esophagus,CNR between esophagus and paravertebral muscles were measured and compared.Results Star-VIBE was superior to VIBE in the ability to display esophageal wall,respiratory motion artifacts,cardiovascular pulsation artifacts,overall motion artifacts and overall image quality (the ability to display esophageal wall:Z＝－3.268,P＝0.001;respiratory motion artifacts:Z＝－3.205,P＝0.001;cardiovascular pulsation artifacts:Z＝－4.644, P＝0.000;overall motion artifacts:Z＝－3.904,P＝0.000;overall image quality:Z＝－2.808,P＝0.005),while no significant differences were found on SNR and CNR between the two sequences (SNR:t＝－1.5 3 9 ,P＝0.1 3 5 ;CNR:t＝－0.874,P＝0.3 89 ).Conclusion The Star-VIBE sequence is insensitive to the physiological motion artifacts,and it can provide better image quality than the conventional VIBE sequence in esophageal MRI.

Undetected patricide: Inaccuracy of cause of death determination without an autopsy.

Patricide (killing the father) is uncommon form of homicide. Usually the assaults occur at home in the absence of witnesses and adult sons are frequently involved. Homicides in a domestic context usually do not tend to recurrence, because the motivation for the crime ends with the death of the parent. However, this is not what was observed in the present case study dealing with the death of a 70 years old white man originally misclassified as accident and discovered three years later only after an additional homicide in a family context of a 60 years old white lady. Multiple stab wounds to the neck and thorax were misinterpreted at the external male body examination as blunt trauma falling down stairs. No forensic autopsy was requested and no comparison of medical findings with the results from the death scene, such as a bloodstain analysis was performed by the police officers nor required by the judicial authority. This was quite surprising because an additional but preliminary post-mortem external examination performed by a general practitioner on the male body already raised the suspicion that the external lesions were stab wounds thus requiring a forensic autopsy. Only the exhumation of the elderly body, performed years later, confirmed the diagnostic hypothesis raised by the first physician. The present case is quite representative of a death investigation not run professionally and performed by individuals with no specific training where most of the medico-legal investigations (especially for traumatic and violent deaths) are restricted to an external body examination without subsequent autopsy. Although misinterpretation of external lesions is inevitable and significant discrepancies between external body examination and forensic autopsy are not rare, in the case of contradictory results of post-mortem external examination or unclear/suspicious cause and manner of death, investigation should proceed necessarily with a forensic autopsy.

Blood pressure and blood lipids detection in official staff population / 中国基层医药

Objective To investigate blood pressure and blood lipids change in official staff population. Methods Official staffs were divided into normal blood pressure group, pre-hypertension group, hypertension group and hypertension under control group based on their blood pressure, and hypertension incidence in pre-hypertension group,hypertension group were studied, hypertension incidence in pre-hypertension group and normal blood pressure group were compared; all staff were divided into normal blood lipids group and high blood lipids group based on their blood lipids. Results Hypertension incidence of official staffs was increasing year by year; hypertension incidence of pre-hypertension group was apparently higher than that of normal blood pressure group (P < 0.01) ; the incidence of hypertension in high blood lipids group(total cholesterol and triglyceride) was apparently higher than that of normal blood lipids group(P < 0.05). Conclusion Life style intervention should be performed on official staffs, especially for pre-hypertension group, blood pressure and blood lipids tracing should be applied on them,in order to decrease the incidence of hypertension and cardiac and cerebral vascular stroke.