Focus on the inconsistency of the shape, location and size of brain glioma, a dual-channel 3-dimensional (3D) densely connected network is proposed to automatically segment brain glioma tumor on magnetic resonance images. Our method is based on a 3D convolutional neural network frame, and two convolution kernel sizes are adopted in each channel to extract multi-scale features in different scales of receptive fields. Then we construct two densely connected blocks in each pathway for feature learning and transmission. Finally, the concatenation of two pathway features was sent to classification layer to classify central region voxels to segment brain tumor automatically. We train and test our model on open brain tumor segmentation challenge dataset, and we also compared our results with other models. Experimental results show that our algorithm can segment different tumor lesions more accurately. It has important application value in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of brain tumor diseases.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of hybrid ablation through compared with thoracoscopic epicardial ablation.MethodsIn this study, 108 patients with all long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (LSPAF) received thoracoscopic epicardial ablation (TEA) after enrollment. There were 82 males and 26 females at age of 56.5±9.4 years. After blanking-period, patients off antiarrhythmic therapy with sinus rhythm were divided into a hybrid ablation (HA) group (50 patients) and a TEA group (58 patients). Only patients in the HA group received catheter ablation after randomization subsequently. In at least two-year observation period, cardiovascular risk factors were observed in all groups’ patients.ResultsThe mean follow-up duration was 17.3-41.8 (26.9±6.1) months and there was no significant difference between two groups [8.2-40.6 (27.5±5.7) months in the HA group and 17.3-41.8 (26.4±6.7) months in the TEA group]. The off antiarrhythmic agents (AADs) sinus rhythm rate was significantly higher in the HA group than that in the TEA group at the time of postoperative 6, 12, 24 and 36 months ［96.0%, 90.0%, 83.7%, 83.7% versus 79.3%, 75.9%, 67.3%, 63.1%, HR=0.415 (95%CI 0.206-0.923)].ConclusionWe can conclude that the efficacy of two-staged hybrid ablation for LSPAF is superior to thoracoscopic epicardial ablation alone. Patients can obtain benefit from a supplemental radiofrequency catheter ablation after blanking-period of surgical ablation, instead of those without a supplemental ablation.
ObjectiveTo investigate the safety and feasibility of laryngeal mask general anesthesia as a replacement of tracheal intubation general anesthesia in the "three-port" thoracoscopic thymectomy via subxiphoid and subcostal arch for thymoma patients without myasthenia.MethodsFrom January 2018 to June 2019, clinical data of patients with thymoma who underwent the novel "three-port" operation in our institution were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups according to the anesthesia methods, including a tracheal intubation general anesthesia group and a laryngeal mask general anesthesia group. There were 70 patients in the tracheal intubation general anesthesia group, including 42 males and 28 females, with an average age of 45.83±15.89 years. There were 39 patients in the laryngeal mask general anesthesia group, including 26 males and 13 females, with an average age of 43.31±15.64 years. The clinical data of the two groups were compared.ResultsThe baseline characteristics of the patients in the two groups were well balanced (P>0.05). No massive bleeding, conversion to thoracotomy, postoperative myasthenia or death occurred in those patients. No patient with laryngeal mask anesthesia had a conversion to tracheal intubation anesthesia during the operation. There was no significant difference in the operation time, intraoperative bleeding, intraoperative maximum partial pressure of CO2, lowest partial pressure of oxygen and anesthesia effect score between the two groups (P>0.05). There was also no statistical difference in postoperative aspiration, gastrointestinal discomfort, length of hospital stay, pain score and patient satisfaction degree between the two groups (P>0.05). However, the anesthesia time before operation and the time of awake after anesthesia in the laryngeal mask anesthesia group were significantly shorter than those in the tracheal intubation general anesthesia group (P<0.05), and the incidence of transient arrhythmia, laryngeal discomfort and hoarseness in the laryngeal mask general anesthesia group was significantly lower than that in the tracheal intubation general anesthesia group (P<0.05).ConclusionThe "three-port" thoracoscopic thymectomy via subxiphoid and subcostal arch under laryngeal mask general anesthesia is safe and feasible in the treatment of thymoma without myasthenia, and can be recommended routinely.
Bone tissue regeneration and blood vessel formation are inseparable. How to realize the vascularization of bone repair scaffolds is an urgent problem in bone tissue engineering. The growth and development, mineralization maturity, reconstruction and remodeling, and tissue regeneration of bone are all based on forming an excellent vascularization network. In recent years, more and more researchers have used hydrogels to carry different cells, cytokines, metal ions and small molecules for in vitro vascularization and application in bone regeneration. Based on this background, this article reviews the hydrogel-based vascularization strategies in bone tissue engineering.
ObjectiveTo determine the clinical efficacy of transapical transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve treatment for patients with deteriorated mitral bioprosthesis after aortic-mitral double valve replacement.MethodsThe clinical data of 9 patients who underwent transapical transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve implantation after aortic-mitral double valve replacement due to mitral bioprosthesis deterioration from May 2020 to January 2021 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed, including 4 males and 5 females with a mean age of 72.44±7.57 years.ResultsSurgeries were performed successfully in all patients with no conversion to median sternotomy. The mean procedural time was 101.33±48.49 min, the mechanical ventilation time was 23.11±26.54 h, the ICU stay was 1.89±1.05 d and the postoperative hospital stay was 6.11±2.02 d. Residual mild mitral regurgitation was only observed in 1 patient. Only 1 patient needed postoperative blood transfusion. No major complications were observed in all patients. There was no death in postoperative 90 days.ConclusionFor patients with deteriorated mitral bioprosthesis after aortic-mitral double valve replacement, transapical transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve implantation achieves good clinical results and effectively improves the hemodynamics without increasing the risk of postoperative left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. The surgery is feasible and effective.
Objective To analyze the current research status, characteristics and development trends of traditional medicine-related clinical trials registration, and to provide ideas and directions for further development of traditional medicine clinical trials. Methods The International Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Registry (ITMCTR) database was searched by computer from inception to June 30, 2024, with unlimited trial registration status, to collect all the clinical trials on traditional medicine, and analyze the basic information of the trials, the diseases studied and the interventions. Results A total of 4 349 clinical trials related to traditional medicine were included, with the number of registrations peaking in the second half of 2020, and showing a steady upward trend after 2023. The trial sponsors of the study covered 9 countries and a total of 34 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities in China, led by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang provinces, accounting for 69.72% of the total. The financial support for the studies was dominated by local government funds in various provinces and cities, accounting for 29.66%. Disease types studied were mainly circulatory system diseases, musculoskeletal system or connective tissue diseases, and tumor diseases, accounting for 29.91% of the total. A total of 3 751 (86.3%) clinical trials were interventional studies, of which randomized parallel control was predominant, and 213 large-sample studies with a sample size of more than 1 000 cases were included. A total of 20 types of interventions were involved, of which 1 114 (29.86%) clinical trials utilized oral prescription of herbal medicine interventions. Conclusion Clinical trial enrollment in traditional medicine has increased overall, but with significant geographic unevenness. Oral herbal soup/granule intervention studies are the mainstream hotspots. It is recommended to strengthen international cooperation, enrich the types of interventions, refine the trial design, and raise the awareness of researchers about the registration of high-quality traditional medicine clinical trials.
Safeguarding patient’s safety is important in clinical research and practice. At present, there are many problems in the clinical safety evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine. For instance, combination of Chinese and western medicines provides difficulty for definite reflection of clinical safety of Chinese medicine, lack of reliability of reporting of symptomatic adverse events/reactions, as well as discrepancy in safety outcomes reporting in similar clinical studies. Based on the application of adverse events/reactions term sets and core outcomes sets in clinical trials of western medicine, it is proposed that the concept of core outcome sets should be introduced to the clinical safety evaluation of integrated Chinese and western medicines in order to improve the clinical safety evaluation.
Objective To investigate the early warning value of urinary selenium binding protein 1 (SBP1) in acute kidney injury (AKI) and its risk factor exposure, and compare it with urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). Methods Adult AKI inpatients and medical workers from the Department of Nephrology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University between April 2023 and April 2024 were selected. Patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the Department of Cardiology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University were selected in June 2023. Patients who received cisplatin treatment in the Respiratory Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University were selected in June 2023. Urinary SBP1 and NGAL levels of patients and medical workers were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results A total of 14 medical workers and 36 AKI patients were included. Except for gender, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total cholesterol (P>0.05), there were statistically significant differences in other indicators between the medical workers and the AKI patients (P<0.05). The urine SBP1 [100.30 (71.50, 138.75) vs.75.60 (65.90, 80.08) pg/mL; U=2.918, P=0.004] and NGAL [423.70 (73.93, 839.80) vs. 14.80 (5.83, 29.98) ng/mL; U=4.668, P<0.001] levels in the AKI group were higher than those in the control group. But the area under the curve of receiver operative characteristic curve of urine SBP1 was smaller than that of urine NGAL (0.768 vs. 0.929). The urine SBP1 level in AKI patients was positively correlated with alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, serum creatinine, and serum glucose (P＜0.05), but negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate and total cholesterol (P＜0.05). A total of 14 patients who underwent PCI were included. The urinary SBP1/creatinine levels of PCI patients increased 6 hours after surgery compared to preoperative levels [(39.54 ± 8.00) vs. (19.34±2.90) pg/μmol; F=8.862, P=0.011]. The urea nitrogen level decreased 72 hours after surgery compared to preoperative levels (P=0.036), while there were no statistically significant differences in other indicators at other time points (P>0.05). There was no significant change in urinary NGAL levels before and after PCI treatment in patients. A total of 19 patients received cisplatin treatment were included. After cisplatin treatment, the level of urinary SBP1 increased compared to before treatment (P=0.024), while there was no significant change in the level of urinary NGAL after treatment compared to before treatment (P=0.350). After treatment, the levels of urea nitrogen (P=0.041) and cystatin C (P=0.002) increased compared to before surgery, while there was no statistically significant difference in blood creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate compared to before treatment (P>0.05). Conclusions Urinary SBP1 levels have certain diagnostic value for AKI, but the diagnostic efficacy is not as good as urinary NGAL. Urinary SBP1 is more sensitive to renal tubular injury caused by nephrotoxic drugs than urinary NGAL.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the implementability of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) guidelines in the field of paediatrics. MethodsWe searched the paediatrics-related TCM guidelines published in CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, SinoMed and PubMed databases, and related websites from inception to November 1, 2023. The implementability of the included guidelines was evaluated using the clinical practice guideline implementability assessment tool. ResultsA total of 47 guidelines were included, covering 37 paediatric diseases and recommending 27 TCM therapies, including TCM decoction, Chinese patent medicines, acupuncture, paediatric massage, and acupoints. The results of the guideline implementability evaluation showed that 5 guidelines (10.6%) were of high grade, 12 guidelines (25.5%) were of medium grade, and 30 guidelines (63.8%) were of low grade. With the exception of accessibility (multi-channel access methods) and communicability, which was of high quality, there is room for improvement in all areas, particularly in the areas of applicability and ease of recognition. ConclusionThe overall quality of implementability of the included paediatric TCM guidelines was low, and it is recommended that in the process of developing paediatric TCM guidelines in the future, we focus on improving the quality of implementability of the guidelines themselves from the source, so as to promote the implementation and application of the guidelines.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness and safety of totally endoscopic transmitral myectomy (TETM) for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), comparing with traditional sternotomy modified Morrow procedure (SMMP).MethodsThirty-eight patients with HOCM who needed surgical intervention were selected from our hospital in 2019, including 14 males and 24 females, with an average age of 56 (44-68) years. According to the operation method, they were divided into a TETM group (n=18) and a SMMP group (n=20). Appropriate patients were screened by propensity matching scores. Finally, the clinical data of two matched groups were compared and analyzed.ResultsThere was no death, septal perforation, residual left ventricular outflow tract obstruction or third degree atrioventricular block in either group. After propensity score matching, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in the ICU length of stay (41.5±5.0 h vs. 53.0±24.0 h, P=0.620), ventilation time (19.5±9.2 h vs. 38.0±24.0 h, P=0.463), cardiopulmonary bypass time (190.7±45.6 min vs. 156.0±70.7 min, P=0.627), aortic cross-clamp time (100.1±25.3 min vs. 94.5±57.3 min, P =0.915), left ventricular outflow tract gradient (17.0±1.4 mm Hg vs. 5.0±0.5 mm Hg, P=0.053), left atrial anterior and posterior diameter (37.0±1.3 mm vs. 40.0±0.7 mm, P=0.090), interventricular septum thickness (12.5±0.7 mm vs. 13.0±1.4 mm, P=0.712), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (10.0±1.4 mm vs. 10.5±2.1 mm, P=0.811), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (43.5±3.5 mm vs. 46.0±4.2 mm, P=0.589), and mitral regurgitation (1.0±0.2 vs. 0.7±0.5, P=0.500). The follow-up time was 6±3 months, and no death occurred. In the TETM group, one patient underwent mitral valvuloplasty again three months after surgery because of a tear in the A3 region of mitral valve..ConclusionTETM is a safe and effective procedure that can well expose the interventricular septum at the basal & middle obstruction site and effectively eliminate the mitral regurgitation associated with systolic anterior motion syndrome caused by left ventricular outflow tract obstruction.