Ultrasound Elastography supplement assessing nodal status of magnetic resonance imaging staged cervical N0 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Analysis of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant cervical tumors

OBJECTIVE

To explore and analyze the value of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of dynamic contrast enhanced-magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant cervical tumors.

METHODS

A total of 51 patients with cervical tumor who were treated in our hospital from April 2017 to October 2019 were recruited as the research subjects. All patients underwent conventional MRI plain scan and DCE-MRI examination. With histopathological results as the gold standard, the participants were classified into a malignant tumor group (n = 36) and a benign tumor group (n = 15) on the basis of the nature of the cervical tumor. The difference of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI between the two groups was compared, and the specificity, sensitivity, negative and positive predictive values of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters in differentiating benign from malignant cervical tumors were analyzed to evaluate the value of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant cervical tumors.

RESULTS

The quantitative parameters Kep, Ktrans and Ve of DCE-MRI in the malignant-tumor-group were critically higher than that in the benign tumor group (P<0.05). When distinguishing between the benign and malignant cervical tumors, the specificity and sensitivity of kep, Ktrans and Ve were higher in the differential diagnosis of malignant cervical tumors than in the benign cervical tumors. The peak of the malignant tumor group was remarkably earlier than that of the benign tumor group, and SI60% of the malignant tumor group was dramatically higher than that of benign tumor group (P<0.05). In addition, compared with benign cervical tumors, the semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MR TTP and SI60% were more sensitive to malignant cervical tumors.

CONCLUSION

The quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI have high value in differentiating benign and malignant cervical tumors. When adopting conventional MRI to diagnose oncologic cervical tumors, the differential diagnosis of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI has demonstrated a high clinical value by avoiding unnecessary radical surgeries.

SDF2L1 Inhibits Cell Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between stromal cell-derived factor 2-like 1 (SDF2L1) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). 12 NPC tissues and 12 chronic nasopharyngitis tissues were involved in our study. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western Blot were utilized to detect the expression of SDF2L1. Besides, immunofluorescence analysis was utilized to determine the protein expression of 97 paraffin-embedded NPC tissues and 58 nasopharyngitis tissues. Biological functional experiment included Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, cell clone formation assay, cell scratch migration assay, Transwell migration assay, and Transwell invasion assay. All data were analyzed by SPSS. Results showed that downexpression of SDF2L1 was prominently present in NPC tissues and cells. Furthermore, silencing the expression of SDF2L1 promoted NPC proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro, while overexpression of SDF2L1 has the opposite effect. In conclusion, SDF2L1 may act as a cancer suppressor gene, play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of NPC, and be a new therapeutic target or prognostic indicator for NPC.

Usefulness of real-time elastography for diagnosing lymph node metastasis of skin cancer: does elastography potentially eliminate the need for sentinel lymph node biopsy in squamous cell carcinoma?

BACKGROUND

The metastatic involvement of regional lymph nodes is the most important prognostic factor for overall survival of skin cancer patients. The sonographic technique of freehand real-time tissue elastography (RTE), which displays tissue rigidity as a colour overlay of the tissue image, was developed.

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose was to evaluate the benefit of RTE for detecting lymph node metastases of skin cancer non-invasively before operation.

METHODS

We first selected lymph nodes of skin cancer patients which had already been diagnosed by biopsy as being reactive or metastatic, and then retrospectively collected images of RTE and B-mode and colour Doppler ultrasound on those lymph nodes performed preoperatively. Twenty-one lymph nodes from 12 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 23 lymph nodes from 14 patients with malignant melanoma (MM) and 14 lymph nodes from six patients with extramammary Paget disease (Paget) were investigated. Elastographic images were assessed on a scale of one to four according to the percentage of high elasticity (hard) area (HEA) in the lymph node.

RESULTS

In all three skin cancers, lymph nodes evaluated as grade 3 or 4 by RTE were metastatic. All lymph nodes evaluated as grade 1 or 2 by RTE were reactive in SCC, whereas some lymph nodes evaluated as grade 1 or 2 were metastatic in MM and Paget.

CONCLUSION

Real-time tissue elastography may aid in distinguishing reactive lymph nodes from metastatic ones especially in SCC.