Effect of contrast-enhanced ultrasound on differential diagnosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and arterial phase enhanced hepatic inflammatory lesions

Objective: To investigate differential diagnosis between intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and arterial phase enhanced hepatic inflammatory lesions in patients without liver cirrhosis using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). Methods: ICC and hepatic inflammatory lesions cases with CEUS and pathological diagnosis between Sep 2013 and Oct 2016 were investigated retrospectively. Imaging features of conventional ultrasound and CEUS were analyzed. The parameters of time intensity curve (TIC), including the arrival time, peak intensity (PI) in the lesions, the starting time for washout, and the intensity difference at 3 min (Delta I-3) after contrast agent infection between the lesion and the liver parenchyma, were compared between ICC and hepatic inflammatory lesions. Results: Twenty-five ICC and fifteen inflammatory patients were included in this study. Seventeen ICC (68.0%) and two inflammatory cases (13.3%) showed bile duct dilatation on conventional ultrasound. Using CEUS, three ICC cases (12.0%) were misdiagnosed as inflammatory lesions and three inflammatory lesions (20.0%) as ICC; two ICC (8.0%) and one inflammatory case (6.7%) could not be made definite diagnosis. Washout started at 34.5 +/- 3.5 s and 61.5 +/- 12.9 s for ICC and inflammatory lesions respectively (P < 0.001). The intensity difference between lesion and liver parenchyma at 3 min after contrast agent injection was 10.8 +/- 3.1 dB in ICC and 4.2 +/- 2.3 dB in inflammatory group (P < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity differentiating ICC and inflammatory lesions were 76% and 87% if the cut-off value of the intensity difference was 7.7 dB. Conclusions: Combined with TIC analysis, and particularly with the characteristic of the early-starting and obvious washout in ICC, CEUS can be useful in differential diagnosis between hepatic inflammatory lesions and ICC.

Recurrent orbital space-occupying lesions:a clinicopathologic study of 253 cases

Objective：To analyze the clinical features,histopathologic classification and frequencies of various types of recurrent orbital space-occupying lesions.Methods：A retrospective study was carried out in 253 consecutive patients with recurrent orbital spaceoccupying lesions treated by surgical excision in the Institute of Orbital Diseases,the General Hospital of the Armed Police Force from January 2009 to December 2010.Results：The patients included 123 males and 130 females aged 2 to 78 years（mean,36.2 years）,and the last recurrence interval after operation ranged from 1 month to 40 years（median,4.75 years）.Of all the cases,159（62.8%）,65（25.7%）,20（7.9%）,8（3.2%） and 1（0.4%） had previously experienced once,twice,three,four and six times of surgeries,respectively.Among them,29（11.5%） cases had recurred 3 times or over,and 37（14.6%） cases got recurrence in 10 or more years postoperatively.Most of the patients with local recurrence presented with various clinical manifestations,while 31（12.3%） cases were symptom-free.Two hundred and thirty-one（91.3%） cases underwent surgical removal of the recurrent orbital lesions,and another 22（8.7%） cases had to receive the exenteration of orbit.Categories of these recurrent orbital lesions after operation were as follows：lacrimal gland tumors,65（25.7%） cases;vasogenic diseases,54（21.3%） cases;neurogenic tumors,42（16.6%） cases;secondary tumors,24（9.5%） cases;orbital inflammation,21（8.3%） cases;myogenic tumors,14（5.5%） cases;fibrous and adipose tumors,12（4.7%） cases;lympho-hematopoietic tumors,7（2.8%） cases;bone or cartilage tumors,7（2.8%） cases;orbital cysts,6（2.4%） cases;and indefinitely differentiated tumor,1（0.4%） case.The 10 top histopathologic diagnoses were lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenoma,hemangiolymphangioma,lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma,meningioma,inflammatory pseudotumor,neurofibroma,sebaceous gland carcinoma,vascular malformation,rhabdomyosarcoma and hemangioma.Conclusions：The variety of recurrent orbital lesions after operation includes mainly of tumors except for vascular malformation and orbital inflammatory lesions.The lacrimal gland epithelial tumor is most prone to relapse after resection,and early and longer-term postoperative follow-up is needed.

Chinese herbal formulae defend against Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection

Mycoplasma gallisepticum HS strain(MG-HS)is a pathogen that causes chronic respiratory disease(CRD)in chicken,which is characterized by host respiratory inflammatory damage,brings huge economic losses to the poultry industry.Recently,emerging Chinese herbal medicines(CHM)have been used to treat CRD.This study was aimed to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects and their potential mechanisms of Chinese herbal medicinal formulae(CHMF),which consisted of 10 kinds of Chinese herbal medicine including Scutellaria,Houttuynia cordate and licorice,on MGinduced CRD in chickens.With respect to the preventive effect,the results showed that CHMF could effectively recover the MG-induced decrease on body weight and feed conversion ratio.Histopathological analysis showed that both prevention and treatment of CHMF could significantly alleviate the severe respiratory inflammation induced by MG infection.Moreover,compared with the MG infection group,both the prevention groups and the treatment groups of CHMF could effectively reduce the expression of MG adhesion protein(p MGA1.2)to inhibit the proliferation of MG,and thus effectively inhibit the expression of MG-induced inflammatory factors interleukin-1β(IL-1β)and tumour necrosis factor-α(TNF-α).In summary,these findings confirm that CHMF can protect chickens from various tissue damage caused by MG infection and has no adverse effects on the performance of chickens in the short term.And its efficacy against MG is equal to or better than that of tiamulin.