Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion,A Misnomer?: Where Do We Go From Here?

The importance of the left atrial appendage (LAA) as the source of thromboembolism including stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is well documented, with more than 90% of ischemic strokes related to a LAA thrombus. Although oral anticoagulation has been the standard of care, approximately 50% to 60% of patients either have contraindications to oral anticoagulation or do not continue the medication beyond the first year. This led to the development of local site-specific therapy to occlude the LAA by either surgical or transcatheter means. Despite marked advancements, incomplete LAA closure with surgical and transcatheter approaches remains frequent. The etiology of incomplete LAA closure and its clinical implications remain unclear. Multiple strategies are in development including changes in deployment techniques, a new device design, and alternative approaches to leak closure.     

Ovine Iliac Vein Model for Endovascular Thrombectomy of Acute Deep Venous Thrombosis

An ovine iliac vein thrombosis model was devised to test a wall-contacting rotational thrombectomy device. Thrombosis was successfully induced in 9 sheep with an average clot length of 31 mm ± 12 and >60% vessel occlusion on angiography. The thrombus was subsequently removed, maintaining normal intraoperative pulmonary arterial pressure (5.9 mm Hg ± 3.6) and complete distal reperfusion after thrombectomy. Additionally, the sheep were without signs of vascular trauma or embolic complications on gross necropsy and histopathologic analysis. The findings from this study support the use of an ovine iliac deep vein thrombosis model for testing of a lower extremity thrombectomy device.     

发泡胶在鼻咽癌放疗中对剂量分布的影响

目的：研究在鼻咽癌放射治疗中应用发泡胶进行体位固定对剂量分布的影响。方法：随机选取11例应用头颈肩热塑膜联合发泡胶进行体位固定的鼻咽癌患者，在Pinnacle计划系统中将空白CT值设置到发泡胶的CT值以下，以确保发泡胶的CT值被计算在内，作为第一组计划（Plan_F）。同时，复制第一组计划并在定位图像上勾画出发泡胶，设置发泡胶的CT值为0，在不改变射野分布、权重及计划跳数的情况下重新计算剂量分布，作为第二组计划（Plan_N）。比较两组计划的靶区及周围正常组织的剂量分布。结果：对于靶区（GTVnx、GTVnd、GTVrpn、PGTVnx、CTV1、PTV1、CTV2、PTV2）的最小剂量Dmin，最大剂量Dmax，平均剂量Dmean去除发泡胶之后，所测 255组数据中仅有6组数据出现减小（约占2.4%），Dmin、Dmax和Dmean的变化度（%）（X±SD）依次为0.215±0.969、 0.395±0.623和 0.442±0.178，其中除了GTVrpn的Dmin（P=0.727）和Dmax（P=0.142），PGTVnx的Dmin（P=0.623），CTV1 Dmin（P=0.713），CTV2 Dmax（P=0.066），其他评估指标皆显示发泡胶使用组剂量低于去除发泡胶组（P＜0.05）；而对于周围正常组织（脑干、脊髓、左右晶体、左右视神经和腮腺）的Dmean和Dmax去除发泡胶之后，所测的154组数据中仅有14组数据出现减小（约占9.1%），Dmax和Dmean的变化度（%）（X±SD）依次为0.194±0.192 和0.129±0.128，其中除了左、右晶体的平均剂量Dmean（P值分别为0.123和0.06），其余各项指标同样显示发泡胶使用组剂量低于去除发泡胶组（P＜0.05）。结论：发泡胶的使用降低了实际治疗过程中受照部位的剂量，但发泡胶对剂量变化的影响都在目前临床可接受的范围之内。     

Exposure to ambient air pollution and the incidence of lung cancer and breast cancer in the Ontario Population Health and Environment Cohort

Lung and female breast cancers are highly prevalent worldwide. Although the association between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and lung cancer has been recognized, there is less evidence for associations with other common air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ozone (O₃). Even less is known about potential associations between these pollutants and breast cancer. We conducted a population-based cohort study to investigate the associations of chronic exposure to PM_2.5, NO₂, O₃ and redox-weighted average of NO₂ and O₃ (O_x) with incident lung and breast cancer, using the Ontario Population Health and Environment Cohort (ONPHEC), which includes all long-term residents aged 35–85 years who lived in Ontario, Canada, 2001–2015. Incident lung and breast cancers were ascertained using the Ontario Cancer Registry. Annual estimates of exposures were assigned to the residential postal codes of subjects for each year during follow-up. We used Cox proportional-hazards models adjusting for personal- and neighborhood-level covariates. Our cohorts for lung and breast cancer analyses included ~4.9 million individuals and ~2.5 million women, respectively. During follow-up, 100,146 incident cases of lung cancer and 91,146 incident cases of breast cancer were diagnosed. The fully adjusted analyses showed positive associations of lung cancer incidence with PM_2.5 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.02 [95% CI: 1.01–1.05] per 5.3 μg/m³) and NO₂ (HR = 1.05 [95% CI: 1.03–1.07] per 14 ppb). No associations with lung cancer were observed for O₃ or O_x. Relationships between PM_2.5 and NO₂ with lung cancer exhibited a sublinear shape. We did not find compelling evidence linking air pollution to breast cancer.     

The Relationship Between Air Pollution and Lung Cancer in Nonsmokers in Taiwan

Introduction

For never-smokers (smoked <100 lifetime cigarettes), lung cancer (LC) has emerged as an important issue. We aimed to investigate the effects of prevalence changes in tobacco smoking and particulate matter (PM) 2.5 (PM_2.5) levels on LC in Taiwan, in relation to contrasting PM_2.5 levels, between Northern Taiwan (NT) and Southern Taiwan (ST).

7例羊水栓塞诊断与抢救的临床分析

目的 分析7例羊水栓塞的临床诊断与抢救,提供临床诊治羊水栓塞的参考,以提高抢救成功率。方法选取2011年1月～2019年10月于本院住院治疗的7例羊水栓塞的产妇临床资料、救治措施、预后及有无并发症进行回顾性分析。结果 7例羊水栓塞患者中,4例行剖宫产术,3例阴道分娩,经多学科合作积极抢救,4例抢救成功,1例有肺挫裂伤、胸骨、肋骨骨折,其余3例无并发症,1例植物人状态,2例死亡(死于严重的DIC、多器官功能衰竭)。结论 羊水栓塞起病急骤、表现不一、进展快,死亡率高,因此早期识别、积极治疗,多学科合作,必要时及时行子宫切除术,可提高抢救成功率,改善预后、减少并发症的发生。     

中西医结合治疗肺栓塞的临床疗效观察

目的:探析中西医结合治疗肺栓塞的临床疗效。方法:选取2017年3月-2019年3月期间我院收治的92例肺栓塞患者,按信封法分为联合组与对照组,每组46例。两组患者均接受常规溶栓、抗凝治疗,对照组在常规治疗基础上增加低分子肝素治疗,联合组在对照组基础上增加疏血通注射液治疗,对比两组治疗效果、不良反应,并对比两组患者治疗前后血气指标[氧分压(Partial Pressure of Oxygen,PaO2)、二氧化碳分压(Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide,PaCO2)]及D-二聚体水平的变化情况。结果:对照组治疗总有效率较联合组更低;治疗后,两组患者PaO2、PaCO2均显著上升,其中联合组PaO2上升幅度大,而两组患者D-二聚体水平均显著下降,其中联合组下降幅度大,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);而两组患者治疗后PaCO2相比,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05);对照组不良反应发生率略低于联合组,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:在常规溶栓、抗凝治疗基础上增加低分子肝素结合疏血通注射液治疗肺栓塞的效果显著,可有效改善血气功能,降低机体D-二聚体水平,且不增加不良反应。