Diameters and form of skull base foramen ovale measured by three-dimensional spiral CT thin-slice scan in healthy adults

BACKGROUND： The accurate measurements of various data of the bone diameters of foramen ovale of living person can change the methods of puncturing trigeminal gasserian ganglion via foramen ovale for treating trifacial neuralgia from the experience of puncture operator only to puncture by taking the objective data of measurement as the evidence, which is good for improving the accuracy of puncturing trigeminal ganglion and reducing side effects. OBJECTIVE ： To observe the forms of foramen ovales in healthy adults displayed by volume rendering and multi-planar reconstruction after three-dimensional spiral CT thin-slice scan of skull base, and measure the longitudinal diameter and transverse diameter. DESIGN ： A repetitive observation and measurement SETTINGS ： Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Medical Imaging, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. PARTICIPANTS： Fifty healthy adults （100 sides）, who were examined with three-dimensional spiral CT scan, were randomly selected from the Department of Medical Imaging, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2005 to January 2006, including 26 males and 24 females, aged 25-68 years with an average of 48 years old. They were all informed and agreed with the examination. METHODS ： The subjects were examined with the Philips 16-slice spiral CT-Mx 8000 IDT CT apparatus （Philips Company, Holland）, the scanning ranged from 2 cm below the canthomeatal line to the level of suprasellar cistem. The width of collimator was 0.75 mm, pitch was 0.663; tube current was 350 mA, voltage was 120 kV, resolution was 512×512 matrix; slice thickness of reconstruction was 1 mm, and interval was 0.5 mm. After the three-dimensional spiral CT thin-slice scan of skull base, the image post-processing techniques including volume rendering and multi-planar reconstruction were applied to observe the forms of foramen ovales, and measure the size, longitudinal diameter and transverse diameter of the foramen ovales. The figures of the foramen ovales were drawn with mouse along the boundary of bone porous margin and soft tissue. According to the indications, the diameters were measured with computer to observe the forms of foramen ovales. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ： The longitudinal diameter, transverse diameter and form of foramen ovales were observed. RESULTS： All the 50 healthy adults （100 sides） were involved in the analysis of results. （1） It was observed in the volume rendering images that foramen ovales had four forms of oval shape （77 sides）, kidney shape （12 sides）, round shape （7 sides）, ribbon shape （4 sides）. （2） The longitudinal diameters of left and right foramen ovales were （7.67±1.32） and （7.98±1.45） mm, and the transverse diameters were （4.04±0.83）, （4.09±1.07） mm; There was no obvious difference between left and right longitudinal diameters （t = 1.63, P = 0.11 ）, and left and right transverse diameters were close （t = 0.45, P= 0.65）. CONCLUSION ： The non-invasive techniques of volume rendering and multi-planar reconstruction after three-dimensional spiral CT thin-slice scan can clearly display the formand size of foramen ovale in healthy adults.

Investigation on the optical scan condition for imaging of multi-slice spiral CT liver perfusion in rats

Background Multi-slice CT liver perfusion has been widely used in experimental studies of hemodynamic changes in liver lesions, and is usually performed as an adjunct to a conventional CT examination because of its high temporal and spatial resolution, simple protocol, good reproducibility, and ability to measure hemodynamic changes of liver tissues at the capillary level. Experimental rat models, especially those of induced liver cancer, are often used in studies of hemodynamic changes in liver cancer. Carcinogenesis in rats has a similar pathological progression and characteristics resembling those in human liver cancer; as a result, rat models are often used as ideal animal models in the study of human liver cancer. However, liver perfusion imaging in rats is difficult to perform, because rats＇ livers are so small that different concentrations, flow rates, and dose of contrast agents during the CT perfusion scanning can influence the quality of liver perfusion images in rats. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the optimal scan protocol for the imaging of hepatic perfusion using a deconvolution mathematical method in rats by comparing the results of rats in different injection conditions of the contrast agent, including concentration, rate and time. Methods Plain CT scan conditions in eighty 2-month-old male Wistar rats were 5.0 mm slice thickness, 5.0 mm interval, 1.0 pitch, 120 kV tube voltage, 60 mA tube current, 512x512 matrix, and FOV 9.6 cm. Perfusion scanning was carried out with different concentrations of diatrizoate （19%, 38%, 57%, and 76%）, different injection rates （0.3 and 0.5 ml/s）, and different injection times （1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6 seconds）. The above conditions were randomly matched and adjusted to determine the best perfusion scan protocol. Three-phase contrast-enhanced scanning was performed after CT perfusion. Histological examination of the liver tissues with hematoxylin and eosin stains was done after CT scanning. Results When the concentration of the contrast agent was 19% or 38%, no pseudo-color map was created. The viscosity increased when the concentration of the contrast agent was 76%; so it is difficult to inject the contrast agent at such a high concentration. Also no pseudo-color map was generated when the injection time was short （1, 2-3, and 4-5 seconds） or the injection rate was low （0.3 ml/s）. The best perfusion images and perfusion parameters were obtained during 50 seconds scanning. Each rat was given an injection of 57% diatrizoate at 0.5 mils via the tail vein using a high-pressure syringe for 6 seconds. The perfusion parameters included hepatic blood flow （HBF）, hepatic blood volume （HBV）, mean transit time （MTT） of the contrast agent, capillary permeability-surface area product （PS）, hepatic arterial index （HAl）, hepatic artery perfusion （HAP）, and hepatic portal perfusion （HPP）. All these parameters reflected the perfusion status of liver parenchyma in normal rats. Three phases of enhancement were modified according to the time-density curves （TDCs） of the perfusion imaging： hepatic arterial phase （7 seconds）, hepatic portal venous phase （15 seconds）, and a delayed phase （23-31 seconds）. On examination by microscopy, the liver tissues were pathologically normal. Conclusions The appropriate protocol with multi-slice spiral CT liver perfusion reflected normal liver hemodynamics in rats. This study laid a solid foundation for further investigation of the physiological characteristics of liver cancer in a rat model, and was an important supplement to and reference for conventional contrast-enhanced CT scans.

多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术诊断肾肿瘤的价值分析

目的探讨多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术对肾肿瘤的诊断价值。方法将我院在2018年7月至2019年7月收治的120例肾肿瘤患者作为研究对象,对所有患者行多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术检查,并以病理诊断为金标准,分析多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术诊断肾肿瘤的效能,并对比不同亚型肾肿瘤的各期扫描CT值。结果经病理诊断结果显示,在120例肾肿瘤患者中,20例为恶性,100例为良性;20例恶性肿瘤中,透明细胞癌16例、乳头状癌2例、嫌色细胞癌2例;将病理诊断结果作为金标准,多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术诊断胃肿瘤的准确率、灵敏度、特异度分别为94.2%、95.0%、94.0%;多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术诊断与金标准的一致性Kappa值为0.809,一致性好;透明细胞癌皮髓质期、实质期及排泄期扫描CT值均高于乳头状癌、嫌色细胞癌,差异有统计学意义(t=2.232,2.377,4.118,4.413,2.464,2.627,P=0.040,0.030,0.001,0.000,0.026,0.018)。结论多层螺旋CT薄层后处理技术对肾肿瘤的诊断价值与金标准较为一致,具有较高的诊断效能,并且能够有效评估肾肿瘤的亚型,值得临床广泛推广应用。