Early Exclusion of Major Adverse Cardiac Events in Emergency Department Chest Pain Patients: A Prospective Observational Study.

Background: The current evaluation of patients with chest pain presenting to an emergency department (ED) with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a lengthy process involving serial measurements of troponin.

Objective: We aimed to validate the diagnostic accuracy of a Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score with single high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) for early rule out of 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and to compare the TIMI score with combinations of heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) and a modified HEART (history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors, troponin) score.

Methods: We recruited 602 consecutive adult patients with chest pain and suspected ACS in the ED.

Phase I/II randomized controlled trial of autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for chronic stroke.

Aim: To examine the safety and efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy for intracerebral haemorrhage with neurological dysfunctions for a year.

Methods: MSC were expanded from 29 mL (17-42 mL) autologous bone marrow. Patients were randomized to have two intravenous injections of autologous MSC or placebos in four weeks apart.

Feasibility Study of Texture Analysis Using Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography to Predict Malignancy in Thyroid Nodules.

Textural analysis of ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) was evaluated to discriminate benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Sixteen papillary thyroid cancers and 89 benign hyperplastic nodules in 105 patients underwent SWE using four static pre-compression levels. Fifteen gray level co-occurrence matrix textural features and six absolute SWE indices were computed from SWE images.

Sonography of diffuse thyroid disease.

Introduction/purpose: This article aims to review of the common diffuse thyroid disease.

Methods: Thorough literature search and review was performed for each diffuse thyroid disease. The most recent and updated ultrasound images were obtained.

Ultrasound, CT and MRI Appearances of a Rare Symptomatic Laryngeal Chondrometaplasia: A Case Report.

Symptomatic laryngeal chondrometaplasia is rare. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few case reports on laryngeal chondrometaplasia. The imaging appearance of this uncommon disease is even more rarely described.

Computed tomographic angiography for patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

With the advanced technology of multi-slice CT scans, we explored the effectiveness of CT angiography (CTA) in place of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We performed a computerized PubMed search of the literature from inception to 27 July 2011 to find reports of similar comparative studies and performed a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy. The pooled sensitivity was 97.

Computed tomographic angiography and venography for young or nonhypertensive patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Background And Purpose: we compared the effectiveness of using computed tomographic angiography and venography (CTAV) with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in young or nonhypertensive patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Methods: we prospectively recruited 109 young (age between 18 and 45 years) or nonhypertensive patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage for this comparative study. All patients had CTAV using multidetector CT with 64 detectors.

Osteonecrosis of hip and knee in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome treated with steroids.

Purpose: To evaluate whether there is a relationship between steroid treatment and risk for osteonecrosis of the hip and knee in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Materials And Methods: The hospital ethics committee approved the study, and all patients provided written informed consent. A total of 254 patients with confirmed SARS treated with steroids underwent evaluation with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for osteonecrosis.