ObjectiveTo summarize the clinical features of infection with Staphylococcus intermedius and its differential diagnosis. MethodsA clinical case of Staphylococcus intermedius infection was analyzed and Chinese literatures about Staphylococcus intermedius infection were reviewed.The literatures were derived from domestic medical journals in CNKI Digital Library and Wanfang Databases from 1998 to 2015. ResultsThe patient was a 35-year-old male.The chief complaints were cough and sputum associated with fever for three days.Chest CT scan showed cuneate and flocculent shadow with high density and unclear margin in the posterior segment of the right upper lobe and aerated bronchus sign was seen.Fuzzy shadow under the pleural was observed in the right lower lobe; On the right side of the chest, a little curved liquid density was seen.Sputum culture in Columbia blood agar plate and chocolate agar plate was done and Staphylococcus intermedius was identified.The final diagnosis of this patient was pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus intermedius.Fleroxacin 0.4 g per day was given by intravenous drip.Two weeks later, chest CT scan showed cuneate and flocculent shadow in the right upper lobe decreased obviously.Fuzzy shadow under the pleural the right lower lobe and pleural effusion on the right side of the chest disappeared.Four cases with Staphylococcus intermedius infection were reported and 3 were children.Two patients had open wound with infection.The involved organs included brain, joints, lungs, and one patient developed septicemia.Staphylococcus intermedius was identified from blood, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, and pus from the open wound.By treatment with sensitive antibiotics three patients were cured but one patient with meningoencephalitis died of circulatory failure. ConclusionsStaphylococcus intermedius infection can occur in many organs and its clinical manifestations are dependent on the infected location.Specimen culture for pathogen is necessary and blood, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, and pus from the open wound are optional candidates.Cultivation of Staphylococcus intermedius is similar to that of Staphylococcus aureus and should be differentiated carefully.Early treatment with high sensitive antibiotics is effective with good prognosis.
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a neurological disorder characterized by an unexplained increase in intracranial pressure that primarily affects obese women of childbearing age, but individuals of any age, gender, or weight may also be affected. Its signature symptoms include disc edema, headache, visual disturbance, and throbbing tinnitus. Due to potentially serious complications, such as vision loss, accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment management are critical to improving patients' quality of life. Ophthalmologists play a key role in the treatment process, as about half of patients first visit the eye department. Diagnosis of IIH depends not only on clinical presentation, but also on the exclusion of other diseases that may cause similar symptoms, and imaging and other tests to ensure an accurate diagnosis. In order to improve diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficiency, multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment mode is advocated, especially in the face of patients with complex trauma or systemic diseases, which can effectively shorten the treatment time and ensure patient safety. Future research directions include establishing China's IIH epidemiological database, exploring clinical diagnosis and treatment methods and basic scientific research, aiming at forming diagnosis and treatment standards suitable for China's national conditions, improving medical level and improving patient prognosis. At the same time, a deeper understanding of the different forms of IIH will better serve the affected populations.
Diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN, less than 30 mm in diameter) has been a formidable problem in clinical work. It is often detected in medical examination or other disease examinations by chance. There are no corresponding signs and symptoms of SPN except those on the imaging, so it is difficult to make a correct diagnosis as early as possible. Literature shows that there is a certain probability of malignant SPN, so early correct diagnosis is the key factor in deciding the prognosis and appropriate treatment. With the accumulation of clinical experiences, the development of new fiberoptic bronchoscopy, highresolution CT, and videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery, as well as the evolution of some invasive examination technologies, it is less difficult in distinguishing benign from malignant SPN than ever before. In this article, we will make a comprehensive review on the development in the aspect of differential diagnosis of SPN.
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of analyzing the pattern of gallbladder wall enhancement on MDCT to identify the different causes of acute cholecystitis. Methods In January 2009 to December 2012， 169 patients diagnosed with acute cholecystitis caused by various pathologic conditions were performed MDCT scans， the images of portal venous phase and clinical data were retrospectively reviewed by two blinded radiologists. There were 146 cases in non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group and 23 cases in hepatopathy cholecystitis group. The other 5 normal gallbladder cases diagnosed by MDCT scans were retrospectively reviewed as contrast group. Using five patterns according to the enhancement pattern of flat gallbladder wall thickening on MDCT. The study cases were then divided into five patterns and the thickness of the mucous membrane were measured. The occurrence rate of each pattern and the thickness of the mucous membrane between the groups were compared respectively. Results In the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group， there were typeⅡin 102 cases （69.9%）， typeⅢin 5 cases （3.4%）， typeⅣ in 30 cases （20.5%）， and typeⅤ in 9 cases （6.2%）. In the hepatopathy cholecystitis group， there were typeⅡin 2 cases （8.7%）， typeⅢ in 11 cases （47.9%）， typeⅣin 5 cases （21.7%）， and typeⅤin 5 cases （21.7%）. The occurrence rate of typeⅡin the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group was significialtly higher than that in the hepatopathy cholecystitis group （P＜0.005）. The occurrence rate of typeⅢ and typeⅤ in the hepatopathy cholecystitis group were significialtly higher than those in the non-hepatopathy cholecystitis group（P＜0.005， P＜0.05）. The occurrence rate of type Ⅳ between the two groups had no significant difference （P＞0.05）. TypeⅠonly present in the contrast group. The non-hepatopathy group’s mean mucous membrane thickness was （2.61±1.30） mm ， which was thicker than the hepatopathy group’s （2.02±0.52） mm（t=2.22， P＜0.05）. Conclusion Analyzing the enhancement pattern of a thickened gallbladder wall on MDCT is helpful in identifying the causes of acute cholecystitis， and the gallbladder perforation or not.
Objective To explore the value of virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ) of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods The ultrasound (US), elastography imaging(EI), and VTQ of ARFI were performed to determine the characteristics and features of 63 thyroid nodules. The pathological diagnosis was the gold standard. According to the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) of US, EI, and VTQ, the critical points and diagnostic values of US, EI, and VTQ in diag-nosis of malignant thyroid nodules were achieved. Results Of the 63 nodules, 45 were benign and 18 were malignant. The area under curves of US, EI, and shear wave velocity(SWV) were 0.837(95% CI:0.712-0.962), 0.863(95% CI:0.751-0.974), and 0.900 (95% CI:0.810-0.990) respectively, and all the 3 kinds of technique had diagnostic value(P=0.001), but there were no significant difference among the 3 kinds of technique on the area under curve(P > 0.05). According to the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve, the critical point of US in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was 3 conventional ultrasonography, which displayed a sensitivity of 83.3%, a specificity of 86.7%, and a accuracy of 85.7%. The critical point of EI grades in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was gradeⅣ, which displayed a sensitivity of 94.1%, a specificity of 82.6%, and a accuracy of 87.3%. The critical value of SWV in distinguishing benign nodules with malignant nodules was 3.39 m/s, which displayed a sensiti-vity of 88.9%, a specificity of 91.1%, and a accuracy of 90.5%. Conclusion US, EI, and VTQ techniques all have diagnostic values in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid nodules, and we should make combination with all of the 3 kinds of technique when performing differential diagnosis.
【Abstract】ObjectiveBy using multidetector row spiral CT (MDCT) to investigate the CT imaging findings of gallbladder abnormalities caused by hepatic parenchymal diseases and those of inflammatory cholecystitis. MethodsCT and clinical data of 80 patients with gallbladder abnormalities were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty patients were in hepatic disease group, including 20 chronic hepatitis, 25 liver cirrhosis, and 5 cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma. Thirty patients were in inflammatory group, including 19 chronic cholecystitis, 6 acute cholecystitis, 3 cholecystitis with acute pancreatitis, 1 gangrenous cholecystitis, and 1 xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis. All patients underwent MDCT plain scan and contrastenhanced dualphase scanning of upper abdomen. ResultsIn hepatic disease group, 48 cases had evenly thickened gallbladder wall (96%) with mean thickness of (3.67±0.49) mm; 38 cases had clear gallbladder outlines (76%); 38 cases had gallbladder wall enhancement of various degree (76%); 14 cases had gallbladder bed edema and localized nondependant pericholecystic fluid collection (28%). In inflammatory cholecystitis group, 28 cases had obscuring gallbladder outlines (93%) ; 26 cases had gallbladder wall evenly thickened (87%), 4 cases showed unevenly thicked wall (13%), the mean thickness being (4.54±1.14) mm; 30 cases had inhomogenous enhancement of the gallbladder wall (100%); 9 cases had highattenuation bile (30%); 4 cases had dependant pericholecystic fluid collection (13%); 5 cases had transient enhancement of adjacent hepatic bed in arterial phase (17%); microabscess and gas in the gallbladder wall was observed in 1 case respectively. ConclusionMDCT can offer imaging findings useful for differentiating abnormal gallbladder changes caused by hepatic parenchymal diseases from those due to inflammatory cholecystitis.
ObjectiveTo explore the differential diagnosis value of airspace consolidation in thoracic CT between organizing pneumonia (OP) and acquired community pneumonia (CAP).MethodsA retrospective study was taken by retrieving the patients CT database from October 2010 to August 2016. Fifty-six consecutive patients with OP and 99 consecutive patients with CAP whose CT showed airspace consolidation were enrolled and their clinical characteristics and radiological characteristics were analyzed.ResultsThe percentage of patients whose CT image showed various amount of air bronchogram (ABG) with different shapes is higher in OP group than that in CAP group (87.5% and 72.7% respectively, χ2=4.558, P=0.033). The median and interquartile range amount of ABG in the OP patients were significantly higher than those in CAP group [4 (ranged from 2 to 8) and 2 (ranged from 0 to 4) respectively, z=3.640, P=0.000]. Morphologically, 58.9% of the OP patients showed entire air bronchogram (EABG) on the thoracic CT, significantly higher than that in CAP group (21.2%) (χ2=22.413, P=0.000). Interrupted ABG was found in 26.3% of CAP patients, while 16.1% of OP patients shared same features and the difference was not statistically significant (χ2=2.125, P=0.148). Traction bronchiectasis and ground glass opacity (GGO) were more likely to be found in the OP patients rather than CAP patients with 26.8% and 39.3% respectively, while they were found in 1.0% and 11.1% in the CAP patients (P<0.05). Reversed halo sign was found only 1.0% of the CAP patients, significantly lower than that in OP group, 26.8% (χ2=25.671, P=0.000). Pleural effusion and bronchial wall thickening were more commonly found in the CAP group with 56.6% and 35.4% respectively. By multivariate logistic analysis, EABG (OR=5.526, P=0.000), traction bronchiectasis (OR=21.564, P=0.010), GGO (OR=4.657, P=0.007) and reversed halo sign (OR=13.304, P=0.023) were significantly associated with OP, while pleural effusion (OR=0.380, P=0.049) and bronchial wall thickening (OR=0.073, P=0.008) were significantly associated with CAP. Other features in thoracic CT coexisting with ABG all reach significance statistically between the OP and CAP group (all P<0.05).ConclusionsAirspace consolidation in thoracic CT may be valuable for the differential diagnosis between OP and CAP. EABG is more commonly found in OP patients than in CAP patients. When EABG exists or ABG coexists with traction bronchiectasis, GGO and reversed halo sign, a diagnose of OP should be considered.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the clinical value of ultrasonographic elastography (UE) for the differential diagnosis of benign/malignant thyroid nodules. MethodsWe comprehensively searched the databases including The Cochrane Library (Issue2, 2013), PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang Data, Medalink, VIP and CBM from inception to the December of 2013, for including clinical research reports of determining thyroid nodules using ultrasonographic elastography. Literature screening according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction and methodological quality assessment were completed by two reviewers independently. Then Meta-DiSc software (version 1.4) was used for pooling analysis. ResultsA total of 35 studies including 4 127 patients were included. The results of metaanalysis showed that, specificity, sensitivity, positive likelihood radio, negative likelihood radio and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 0.89 (0.88 to 0.90), 0.88 (0.86 to 0.90), 6.37 (5.44 to7.47), 0.13 (0.11 to 0.16) and 58.72 (43.12 to 79.98), respectively; and the area under SROC curve (AUC) was 0.936 9. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that ultrasonographic elastography has fairly high sensitivity (88%) and specificity (89%) in differential diagnosis of benign/malignant thyroid nodules. The positive rate in the malignant thyroid group is 58.72 times higher that in benign thyroid cancer with better efficacy in differential diagnosis, so ultrasonographic elastography is of effective and feasible diagnostic value for thyroid benign/malignant nodules.
【Abstract】Objective To explore the differential diagnostic value of major fibrinolytic parameters in pleural fluid. Methods Tissue-type plasminogen activator( t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1( PAI-1) in pleural fluid at the first thoracentesis were measured with ELISA and D-dimer was measured with immunoturbidimetry. Results Eighty-four patients with pleural effusion were enrolled, among which 40 with malignant effusion, 33 with infectious effusion and 11 with transudative effusion. t-PA level was higher in malignant and transudative pleural fluid than that in infectious pleural fluid[ ( 52. 49 ±31. 46) ng /mL and ( 58. 12 ±23. 14) ng /mL vs ( 37. 39 ±22. 44) ng /mL, P lt; 0. 05] , but was not statistically different between malignant pleural fluid and transudative ( P gt; 0. 05) . PAI-1 level was higher in malignant and infectious pleural fluid than that in transudative [ ( 164. 86 ±150. 22) ng/mL and ( 232. 42 ±175. 77) ng/mL vs ( 46. 38 ±16. 13) ng/mL, P lt; 0. 01] , but was not statistically different between malignant and infectious pleural fluid( P gt;0. 05) . D-dimer levels in the three types of pleural fluid were significantly different, which was ( 23. 66 ±25. 18) mg/L, ( 6. 36 ±10. 87) mg/L and ( 66. 90 ±42. 17) mg/L in malignant, transudative and infectious pleural fluid, respectively. As single-item detection for malignant pleural fluid, the cutoff of t-PA was gt; 38. 7 ng/mL( area under ROC curve was 64. 0 ) , with sensitivity of 60. 0% , specificity of 63. 6%, positive predictive value of 66. 7%, negative predictive value of 56. 8% and accuracy of 61. 6% .The cutoff of D-dimer was lt; 27. 0 mg/L( area under ROC curve was 85. 5) , with sensitivity of 84. 8% ,specificity of 72. 5% , positive predictive value of 85. 3% , negative predictive value of 71. 8% and accuracy of78.1%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of combined examination( t-PA + D-dimer) were 92. 5% , 60. 6% , 74. 0% , 87. 0% , 78. 1% , respectively.Conclusions The t-PA, PAI-1 and D-dimer levels are significantly different in the three types of pleural fluid. The detection of fibrinolytic parameters in pleural fluid, especially the value of D-dimer,may be helpful in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion.
Objective To systematically review the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET dual time point scan in identifying benign and malignant lung lesions, in order to necessity and clinical value of dual time point scan. Methods We electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, WanFang Data, CNKI and CBM for diagnostic tests on 18F-FDG PET dual time point scan vs. surgery or needle biopsy (gold standard) from January 1990 to November 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then statistical analysis was performed to calculate pooled effect sizes of sensitivity (SEN) and specificity (SPE), and area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristics (SROC), followed by sensitive analysis and subgroup analysis. Results A total of 19 domestic and foreign studies were totally included, involving 1 225 lesions. The results of meta-analysis showed SEN 0.82 (95%CI 0.79 to 0.85) and SPE 0.74 (95%CI 0.71 to 0.78) regarding 18F-FDG PET dual time point scan in identifying benign and malignant lung lesions. The results of sensitive analysis showed that: a) after eliminating studies in which tuberculosis in the benign lesions accounted for more than 50%, it showed pooled SEN 0.81 (95%CI 0.77 to 0.84), pooled SPE 0.76 (95%CI 0.72 to 0.80), and AUC 0.850 3; b) after eliminating studies in which sample size was less than 50 cases, it showed pooled SEN 0.78 (95%CI 0.74 to 0.82), pooled SPE 0.78 (95%CI 0.74 to 0.82), and AUC 0.814 1; and c) after eliminating studies in which iSUV was more than 2.5, it showed pooled SEN 0.67 (95%CI 0.55 to 0.78), pooled SPE 0.66 (95%CI 0.54 to 0.77), and AUC 0.779 8. Conclusion 18F-FDG PET dual time point scan has intermediate value in identifying benign and malignant lung lesions, which is almost as good as single time point scan, so it’s unnecessary to apply it as a clinical routine test.