Intravenous computed tomographic cholangiography in acute cholecystitis. A comparison with conventional cholangiography

Forty-nine patients with clinical signs of acute cholecystitis underwent conventional and computed tomographic cholangiography. Among 39 patients with signs of contrast medium in the biliary system at both examinations there was a diagnostic discrepancy in only one patient. Conventional radiography demonstrated cholecystopathy in this patient while contrast medium in the gallbladder and an acute pancreatitis were found at computed tomography. Ten patients with an indeterminate conventional cholangiography had a conclusive computed tomographic examination. Twenty of 30 patients with an abnormal computed tomographic cholangiography underwent cholecystectomy and all had diseased gallbladders. All 17 patients with histopathologically confirmed acute cholecystitis had signs of subserosal edema and/or changes in the omental fatty tissue adjacent to the gallbladder at computed tomography. A layer of tissue of water-density adjacent to the gallbladder and/or changes in omental fatty tissue were also seen in one patient with congestive heart failure and in one with a penetrating duodenal ulcer. None of the 19 patients with a normal computed tomographic cholangiography had a proven acute cholecystitis.     

Autoantigens in an immunological network

An autoantigen network, consisting of all non-lymphoid cells and a subset of peripherally located autoregulatory lymphocytes, is proposed. By equilibrating a web of idiotypic stimulation (helper activity) and antiidiotypic inhibition (suppressor activity) directed at each tissue differentiation antigen, this network quantitatively limits autoantigen expression and thereby regulates the differentiation and growth homeostatic processes these autoantigens mediate. Perturbations of the network's dynamic equilibrium secondary to viral infection, somatic mutation, or interaction with environmental agents would clinically manifest themselves as autoimmune tissue destruction, benign or malignant nonlymphoid neoplasia, and lymphoproliferative disorders.     

喉切除术后患者的生存质量量表

目的:研制并测试喉切除术后患者生存质量量表。方法:依据1993年WHO制定的生存质量一般准则,通过指标的收集和筛选,制定喉切除术后患者生存质量量表。选择1996-06/2002-06在中山大学附属第一医院因喉癌行喉切除术后满6个月的患者81例,对36例喉部分切除和45例喉全切除的患者进行上述量表问卷调查,考核该量表的可行性、信度和效度。结果:①量表指标筛选结果:经过对收集的81个指标的多次筛选,最终得到生存质量量表的22个评价指标。②量表结构:由22个评价指标及1个有关患者对自己总体健康状况和生存质量评价的问题(满分100分)组成。覆盖了身体机能、喉功能、心理状态、独立生活能力、社会关系与环境以及气管造口等6个方面。采用等级描述评分法,每个问题有5个选项,由差到好依次分值为1～5分。③量表的接受率和完成率分别为73%和93%,完成时间为10min以内;分半信度、克朗巴赫系数和方差比分别为0.842,0.889和0.155,表明量表有较好的信度。通过测试准则关联效度及内容效度,表明量表是有效的。结论:设计的喉切除术后患者生存质量量表有喉切除术的专业特性,具有较好的可行性、信度及效度。     

Comparison of [11C]UCB-J and [18F]FDG PET in Alzheimer’s disease: A tracer kinetic modeling study

[¹¹C]UCB-J PET for synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2 A (SV2A) has been proposed as a suitable marker for synaptic density in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We compared [¹¹C]UCB-J binding for synaptic density and [¹⁸F]FDG uptake for metabolism (correlated with neuronal activity) in 14 AD and 11 cognitively normal (CN) participants. We assessed both absolute and relative outcome measures in brain regions of interest, i.e., K₁ or R₁ for [¹¹C]UCB-J perfusion, V_T (volume of distribution) or DVR to cerebellum for [¹¹C]UCB-J binding to SV2A; and K_i or K_iR to cerebellum for [¹⁸F]FDG metabolism. [¹¹C]UCB-J binding and [¹⁸F]FDG metabolism showed a similar magnitude of reduction in the medial temporal lobe of AD –compared to CN participants. However, the magnitude of reduction of [¹¹C]UCB-J binding in neocortical regions was less than that observed with [¹⁸F]FDG metabolism. Inter-tracer correlations were also higher in the medial temporal regions between synaptic density and metabolism, with lower correlations in neocortical regions. [¹¹C]UCB-J perfusion showed a similar pattern to [¹⁸F]FDG metabolism, with high inter-tracer regional correlations. In summary, we conducted the first in vivo PET imaging of synaptic density and metabolism in the same AD participants and reported a concordant reduction in medial temporal regions but a discordant reduction in neocortical regions.     

New sonographic imaging observations in focal pancreatitis

The imaging findings that ultrasonographically differentiate focal acute pancreatitis (FAP) from a malignant lesion of the pancreas are described. Focal acute pancreatitis is ultrasonographically (US) characterized as a hypoechoic, homogeneous, localized, subsegmental, non-expansive and diffusely demarcated lesion located mostly in the head of the pancreas. It could not be visualized using CT. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) performed in 13 of the 32 patients, showed chronic pancreatitis. Focal acute pancreatitis disappeared in 1–6 months at US follow-up. The clinical diagnoses were acute pancreatitis in 11 patients, chronic pancreatitis in 12 patients, biliary disease in 5 patients, hepatopathia in 1 patient while the diagnosis was unknown in 2 patients. No patient developed any pancreatic cancer during a median of 85 months of follow-up. In conclusion, the present data indicate that patients with FAP at US, without any focal lesion seen on either CT or ERCP, have a benign pancreatic lesion, which resolves in 1–6 months; thus, such patients probably do not need any further investigation or follow-up at all. Received: 9 February 1998; Revision received: 28 May 1998; Accepted: 7 August 1998     

Bronchobiliary fistula in chronic pancreatitis. Case report

Bronchobiliary fistulas are rare. One aetiological cause is biliary obstruction with secondary suppuration and subsequent hepatic and subphrenic abscesses. Only a few cases of bronchobiliary fistulas in patients with chronic pancreatitis have been reported and we record another case. A 47-year-old white male, with chronic alcohol-induced pancreatitis who had earlier undergone several laparotomies related to this disease, was admitted with a hepatic abscess. Drainage was not successful. The patient developed bilioptysis and a bronchobiliary fistula was diagnosed. The fistulous tract was demonstrated using PTC as well as bronchography. Laparotomy was performed and the fistulous tract was excised. The hepaticoduodenal ligament was completely obstructed by the inflamed pancreatic gland. An earlier but now obstructed cholecystojejunostomy was revised. This case was complicated by episodes of severe gastrointestinal bleeding probably caused by thrombosis of the portal vein and local varices around the gallbladder and common duct.