Comparison of transcranial color-coded real-time sonography and contrast-enhanced color-coded sonography for detection and characterization of intracranial arteriovenous malformations.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic value of transcranial color-coded real-time sonography and contrast-enhanced color-coded sonography in detection and characterization of intracranial arteriovenous malformations. METHODS: Thirty-one patients highly suspected to have an intracranial arteriovenous malformation were imaged with real-time and contrast-enhanced sonography. With digital subtraction angiography as the reference standard, the ability to detect the malformations and accurately determine their size and location was compared between the two imaging techniques. RESULTS: One cavernous hemangioma and 30 intracranial arteriovenous malformations were imaged with real-time and contrast-enhanced sonography, which were confirmed by angiography. The detectability of contrast-enhanced sonography, especially for optimizing visualization of malformations located in the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes, was higher than that of real-time sonography, although the overall number of malformations was too small to demonstrate significance. The sizes of the malformations (6 in the frontal lobe, 1 in the parietal lobe, and 1 in the occipital lobe) were underestimated by real-time sonography compared to angiography, whereas there was agreement in the sizes between contrast-enhanced sonography and angiography. The detection rates for the 30 arteriovenous malformations on contrast-enhanced and real-time sonography were 96.7% (29 of 30) and 70.0% (21 of 30), respectively (P = .008). Moreover, contrast-enhanced sonography was significantly superior to real-time sonography for detection of feeding arteries (59.5% [22 of 37] versus 83.7% [31 of 37]; P = .004). Although the feeding arteries showed increased peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities after contrast agent injection, there were no statistically significant differences in the velocities before and after injection. CONCLUSIONS: Transcranial contrast-enhanced color-coded sonography is superior to color-coded real-time sonography for detection of intracranial arteriovenous malformations, particularly for lesions located in the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes of the brain.

Comparison of transcranial color Doppler sonography without and with contrast enhancement for detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic value of transcranial color Doppler sonography (TCCS) with contrast-enhanced transcranial color Doppler sonography (CE-TCCS) for the detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms. METHODS: Thirty patients highly suspected of having an intracranial aneurysm were imaged using TCCS and CE-TCCS. The ability to detect the aneurysms and determine their size and location accurately was compared with findings from digital subtraction angiography. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity of CE-TCCS was greater than that of TCCS (24/30 versus 20/30, respectively) (p = 0.125), but the difference was not significant. Neither TCCS nor CE-TCCS could detect the three small (≤5 mm diameter) aneurysms. The detection rate for larger aneurysms (5-15 mm diameter, n = 17) was nonsignificantly greater with CE-TCCS (14/17) than with TCCS (11/17) (p = 0.438). Similarly, CE-TCCS detected more large or giant aneurysms (>16 mm diameter) than TCCS (10/10 versus 9/10, respectively) but the difference was not significant (p = 1.000). The benefit of contrast enhancement was identical for aneurysms ≥10 mm or <10 mm in diameter. All (7/7) middle cerebral artery aneurysms were detected by both TCCS and CE-TCCS. CE-TCCS yielded similar or slightly better results than TCCS for all other aneurysm locations. CONCLUSION: CE-TCCS can improve the sensitivity and detection rate of intracranial aneurysms ≥5 mm in size.

Separation and purification of tanshinone from Salvia miltiorrhiza by combination of silica gel and high-speed counter-current chromatography / 中草药

Objective: To develop a method for separation and purification of tanshinone from Salvia miltiorrhiza by combination of silica gel and high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). Methods: The crude extract of S. miltiorrhiza was separated by silica gel chromatography and F1 and F2 were obtained. Then, F1 and F2 were separated by HSCCC with a two-phase solvent system composed of petroleum ether-methanol-water (4:3:4:2 and 8:5:8:3), respectively. The lower phase was used as the mobile phase with a flow rate of 2.0 mL/min, while the apparatus rotated at 850 r/min and the eluates were detected at 254 nm. The structures of the target compounds were identified by ESI-MS and NMR. Results: From 80 mg of F1, three compounds with tanshinone I (14 mg), dihydrotanshinone I (22 mg), and tanshinone IIA (26 mg) were obtained. And from 80 mg of F2, dihydrotanshinone (11 mg), trijuganone B (15 mg), and cryptotanshinone (30 mg) were obtained. The purities of these six compounds determined by HPLC were all over 96%, respectively. Conclusion: Combination of silica gel and HSCCC is an efficient method for separation of tanshinone from S. miltiorrhiza.