Objective?To investigate clinical characteristics， diagnosis， and treatment for patients with spontaneous esophageal rupture， and improve clinical diagnostic and treatment level.?Methods?We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 34 patients with spontaneous esophageal rupture who were treated in Subei People’s Hospital from January 1996 to June 2010. There were 28 male patients and 6 female patients with their age ranging from 32 to 80 years old (mean 57.6 years old). Main clinical manifestations included severe chest and abdominal pain after vomiting， fever， dyspnea and shock. The duration between disease onset and establishing diagnosis ranged from 4 hours to 7 days. Thirteen patients received conservative treatment including chest drainage， retrograde gastrointestinal decompression and enteral nutrition through jejunostomy. Twenty one patients received surgical treatment including layered anastomosis of the ruptured esophagus， retrograde gastrointestinal decompression and enteral nutrition through jejunostomy.?Results?All the patients were cured without in-hospital death. The mean hospital stay of the 13 patients who received conservative treatment was 46 days， while that of the 21 patients who received surgical treatment was 17 days. All the ruptured esophagus were one-stage healed. All the 34 patients were followed up from l to 8 years， including 11 patients in the conservative treatment group and 19 patients in the surgical treatment group， but 4 patients was lost during follow-up. All the patients had a normal diet without symptoms of esophageal stricture， reflux esophagitis or chronic thoracic empyema.?Conclusion Spontaneous esophageal rupture is a thoracic emergency with a high misdiagnosis rate and mortality．Early diagnosis， early surgical repair of ruptured esophagus and satisfactory chest drainage play a vital role in the treatment for patients with spontaneous rupture of esophagus.
Objective To evaluate the predictive performance of the geometric characteristics, centerline (CL) of pulmonary nodules for prognosis in patients with surgically treatment in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). MethodsCT images of 178 patients who underwent surgical treatment and were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the low-dose CT (LDCT) cohort from the NLST image database were selected, including 99 males and 79 females, with a median age of 64 (59, 68) years. CT images were processed using commercial software Mimics 21.0 to record the volume, surface area, CL and the area perpendicular to the centerline of pulmonary nodules. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to compare the predictive performance of LD, AD and CL on prognosis. Univariate Cox regression was used to explore the influencing factors for postoperative disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), and meaningful independent variables were included in the multivariate Cox regression to construct the prediction model. ResultsThe area under the curve (AUC) of CL for postoperative recurrence and death were 0.650 and 0.719, better than LD (0.596, 0.623) and AD (0.600, 0.631). Multivariate Cox proportional risk regression analysis showed that pulmonary nodule volume (P=0.010), the maximum area perpendicular to the centerline (MApc) (P=0.028) and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001) were independent risk factors for DFS. Meanwhile, age (P=0.010), CL (P=0.043), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), MApc (P=0.022) and the average area perpendicular to the centerline (AApc) (P=0.016) were independently associated with OS. ConclusionFor the postoperative outcomes of NSCLC patients in the LDCT cohort of the NLST, the CL of the pulmonary nodule prediction performance for prognosis is superior to the LD and AD, CL can effectively predict the risk stratification and prognosis of lung cancer, and spheroid tumors have a better prognosis.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical value of 3D CT combined with CT-guided Hookwire for localizing small pulmonary nodules in thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy.MethodsFrom December 2017 to February 2019, 39 patients received thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy in our hospital, including 14 males and 25 females with a mean age of 51.33±11.17 years. Before operation, we used Mimics Medical 20.0 to re-establish the anatomy of lung and locate the small pulmonary nodules with Hookwire guided by CT. Based on the position of Hookwire needle, 3D CT images and simulated surgical methods, thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy was performed accurately.ResultsThe surgery was successfully completed in 39 patients without a transfer to open procedure. The mean operation time, mean intraoperative blood loss, mean postoperative hospital stay, mean thoracic tube drainage time were 148.97±28.56 min, 27.95±17.57 mL, 6.95±1.68 d, 4.21±1.95 d, respectively. Postoperative complications occurred in 5 patients (12.82%), including atrial fibrillation in 1, pulmonary infection in 1, chylothorax in 1, intrathoracic hemorrhage in 1 and pneumothorax in 1. All actual surgical margins were larger than 3.0 cm.ConclusionThe application of preoperative 3D CT combined with CT-guided Hookwire to localize small pulmonary nodules is helpful for accurate anatomical segmental resection of the lung, making the operation safe .
Objective To investigate the accuracy of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) combined with CT three-dimensional reconstruction (CT-3D) in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. Methods The clinical data of patients who underwent pulmonary nodule surgery in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital from July 2020 to August 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT and chest enhanced CT-3D and other imaging data were extracted. The parameters with diagnostic significance were screened by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Three prediction models, including PET/CT prediction model (MOD PET), CT-3D prediction model (MOD CT-3D), and PET/CT combined CT-3D prediction model (MOD combination), were established through binary logistic regression, and the diagnostic performance of the models were validated by ROC curve. Results A total of 125 patients were enrolled, including 57 males and 68 females, with an average age of 61.16±8.57 years. There were 46 patients with benign nodules, and 79 patients with malignant nodules. A total of 2 PET/CT parameters and 5 CT-3D parameters were extracted. Two PET/CT parameters, SUVmax≥1.5 (AUC=0.688) and abnormal uptake of hilar/mediastinal lymph node metabolism (AUC=0.671), were included in the regression model. Among the CT-3D parameters, CT value histogram peaks (AUC=0.694) and CT-3D morphology (AUC=0.652) were included in the regression model. Finally, the AUC of the MOD PET was verified to be 0.738 [95%CI (0.651, 0.824)], the sensitivity was 74.7%, and the specificity was 60.9%; the AUC of the MOD CT-3D was 0.762 [95%CI (0.677, 0.848)], the sensitivity was 51.9%, and the specificity was 87.0%; the AUC of the MOD combination was 0.857 [95%CI (0.789, 0.925)], the sensitivity was 77.2%, the specificity was 82.6%, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion 18F-FDG PET/CT combined with CT-3D can improve the diagnostic performance of pulmonary nodules, and its specificity and sensitivity are better than those of single imaging diagnosis method. The combined prediction model is of great significance for the selection of surgical timing and surgical methods for pulmonary nodules, and provides a theoretical basis for the application of artificial intelligence in the pulmonary nodule diagnosis.
Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth dangerous cancer in the world. As the global population ages, the management of elderly patients with EC poses a challenge as they have many aging-associated diseases and physiological changes. In addition, the data on the tolerability of cancer treatment and the use of combined therapies in the patients to guide their treatment are limited. In this paper, we reviewed the literatures and discussed the effect of surgical resection and the potential complications of elderly patients. We reviewed the basic principles of combined therapy and the potential benefits of chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for patients and focused on the management of elderly patients with EC as well as the role of comprehensive assessment for aging to provide treatment options for elderly patients.