Tissue elasticity imaging for diagnosis of prostate cancer: A preliminary report

BACKGROUND: Elastography is a diagnostic imaging technique that evaluates the hardness of a lesion. It is expected to become a new diagnostic modality for prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to examine the usefulness of elastography in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. METHODS: A total of 29 patients with untreated, histologically proven prostate cancer were examined using an elastographic imaging technique. The patient was scanned in the dorsosacral position and the prostate was manually compressed with a transrectal ultrasonic probe. The echo signals from inside the tissue were measured before and after the tissue compression and an elastogram was generated by spatially differentiation of the displacement distribution. RESULTS: Elastography depicted the cancer lesion as a harder tissue than the surrounding normal prostatic tissue. Elastography successfully detected 93% (27 patients) of the untreated prostate cancer lesions. Detection of cancer lesions using elastography was significantly higher than by digital rectal examination (59%; 17 patients) and transrectal ultrasonography (55%; 16 patients). CONCLUSION: Elastography has great potential as a useful modality for diagnosis of prostate cancer. Differentiation between cancerous and normal tissues can be expected to become more accurate as a result of technical advances in the quantification of tissue hardness.     

Predictors of seminal vesicle invasion before radical prostatectomy

AIM: To predict whether or not seminal vesicle invasion is present before radical prostatectomy, the relationships between clinical parameters and seminal vesicle invasion were analyzed. METHODS: A review was conducted of 187 patients who had been clinically diagnosed with stages A(2), B(0), B(1), B(2) or C prostate cancer and who had undergone radical prostatectomy without neoadjuvant therapy. The parameters analyzed for potential predictors of seminal vesicle invasion before radical prostatectomy included age, clinical stage, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level at biopsy, tumor differentiation of biopsy specimens and percentage of cancer positive cores by biopsy. For percentage of cancer positive cores by biopsy, 143 of 187 patients who underwent transrectal sextant biopsy or more than six transrectal ultrasound guided core biopsies were evaluated. These parameters were subjected to univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to identify predictors for seminal vesicle invasion. RESULTS: The median age was 66.8 years (range 51-77 years). Of 187 patients, 27 (14.4%) had seminal vesicle invasion confirmed pathologically. There were significant differences in all parameters except for age between patients with positive and negative seminal vesicle invasion on univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that serum PSA level, tumor differentiation of biopsy specimens and percentage of cancer positive cores were significant independent predictors of seminal vesicle invasion. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed serum PSA level, tumor differentiation of biopsy specimens and percentage of cancer positive cores by biopsy before radical prostatectomy may be useful predictors for seminal vesicle invasion.     

Decrease in reactivity of basophils by immunotherapy with housedust extract

Changes of basophil reactivity to housedust extract and anti-IgE during immunotherapy was examined in thirteen patients with bronchial asthma sensitive to housedust. (i) A significant decrease in the morphological reactivity of basophils to housedust extract was observed 6 months after the beginning of immunotherapy with the antigen, and a significant decrease after 12 and 18 months’ therapy, accompanied with the decrease of histamine release from the cells. The percent reactive basophils to the antigen decreased from 59.2 ± 2.9% before the therapy to 40.0 ± 1.8% after 18 months’immunotherapy. (ii) A decrease in the morphological reactivity of basophils to anti-IgE was also shown during immunotherapy. The basophil reactivity to anti-IgE decreased significantly at the late stage (18 months) of immunotherapy. (iii) A significant reduction of specific IgE antibody to housedust was observed 12 and 18 months after the beginning of immunotherapy. It was suggested from these results that immunotherapy causes some changes on the surface of basophils and decreased reactivity of the cells, and that a decrease of reactive basophils to anti-IgE in the process of immunotherapy might be due to a decrease in number of IgE receptors essentially or functionally.     

不同养生功法对2型糖尿病患者MMPI的影响

目的 观察不同养生功法对2型糖尿病的辅助治疗作用以及心理影响.方法 将108例2型糖尿病患者随机分为动功组、动静组、静功组和对照组4组,动功采用八段锦,静功采用放松功.动功组在常规治疗基础上练习1 h八段锦:动静组在常规治疗基础上前半小时练习八段锦,后半小时练习放松功;静功组在常规治疗基础上练习1 h放松功;对照组按常规治疗,不加干预.所有入组患者在练功前、练功2个月、练功4个月测量明尼苏达多项人格测验量表(MMPI),得到完整病例94例,动功组24例、动静组25例、静功组22例和对照组23例.结果 前3组练功两个月时,与对照组差别不明显,练功4个月时,静功组MMPI中的社会内向因子显著优于对照组(P=0.029);动静组MMPI中的精神病态、精神衰弱、精神分裂因子明显改善(分别为P=0.010、P=0.020、P=0.017);静功组MMPI中的癔病、精神病态、偏执因子显著改善(P=0.026、P=0.033、P=0.035).结论 动功、动静结合、静功,功法不同,效果有一定差异.静功和动静功结合训练可能对部分人格倾向具有一定改善作用.