Clinical sonochemotherapy of inoperable pancreatic cancer using diagnostic ultrasound and microbubbles: a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled trial.

Objectives: Sonochemotherapy, which uses microbubble (MB)-assisted ultrasound (US) to deliver chemotherapeutic agents, has the potential to enhance tumour chemotherapy. The combination of US and MB has been demonstrated to prolong the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. This phase 2 clinical trial aimed to determine the clinical efficacy and safety of sonochemotherapy for inoperable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by using US and MB.

Marijuana use is inversely associated with liver steatosis detected by transient elastography in the general United States population in NHANES 2017-2018: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The impact of marijuana on the general population is largely unknown. The present study aimed to assess the association between marijuana use and liver steatosis and fibrosis in the general United States population utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed with data from the 2017-2018 cycle of NHANES.

Optimal treatment occasion for ultrasound stimulated microbubbles in promoting gemcitabine delivery to VX2 tumors.

Ultrasound stimulated microbubbles (USMB) is a widely used technology that can promote chemotherapeutic delivery to tumors yet the best treatment occasion for USMB is unknown or ignored. We aimed to determine the optimal treatment occasion for USMB treatment to enhance tumor chemotherapy to achieve the highest drug concentration in tumors. Experiments were conducted on VX2 tumors implanted in 60 rabbits.

Chemotherapy Augmentation Using Low-Intensity Ultrasound Combined with Microbubbles with Different Mechanical Indexes in a Pancreatic Cancer Model.

The aim of the study was to explore the optimal mechanical indexes (MIs) for low-intensity ultrasound (LIUS) combined with microbubbles to enhance tumor blood perfusion and improve drug concentration in pancreatic cancer-bearing nude mice. Fifty-four nude mice bearing bilateral pancreatic tumors on the hind legs were randomly divided into three groups (the MI was set at 0.3, 0.

Ultrasound-Targeted Microbubble Destruction Accelerates Angiogenesis and Ameliorates Left Ventricular Dysfunction after Myocardial Infarction in Mice.

Failure of coronary recanalization within 12 h or no flow in the myocardium after percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with high mortality from myocardial infarction, and insufficient angiogenesis in the border zone results in the expansion of infarct area. In this study, we examined the effects of ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) on angiogenesis and left ventricular dysfunction in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. Fifty-four mice with MI were treated with no UTMD, ultrasound (US) alone or UTMD four times (days 1, 3, 5 and 7), and another 18 mice underwent sham operation and therapy.

Clinical Value of Ultrasound-Guided Minimally Invasive Biopsy in the Diagnosis or Treatment of Breast Nodules.

Purpose: To explore the clinical value of ultrasound-guided minimally invasive biopsy of breast nodules for diagnosis and treatment of patients with no positive clinical signs on manual breast examination.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 136 patients with no signs on breast palpation who underwent ultrasound-guided minimally invasive biopsy. A total of 63 patients underwent breast nodule resection from October 2018 to December 2019 at the General Hospital of Central Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army.

Stable Low-Dose Oxygen Release Using HO/Perfluoropentane Phase-Change Nanoparticles with Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Coronary Thrombolysis.

After the onset of myocardial infarction, extensive coronary thrombus and oxygen supply insufficiency lead to severe myocardial damage and heart failure. Recently, ultrasound-irradiated phase-change nanoparticles have been recognized for their cardiovascular thrombolysis potential. Therefore, we sought to establish a novel treatment method using hydrogen peroxide (HO)/perfluoropentane (PFP) phase-change nanoparticles with low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for the simulation of acute coronary thrombolysis and myocardial preservation.

Circular RNA hsa_circ_0007059 restrains proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer cells via inhibiting microRNA-378.

As newly discovered non-coding RNA (ncRNA), circular RNA (circRNA) has become a research hotspot in manifold cancers. But, the influences of hsa_circ_0007059 in lung cancer remain obscure. Expression of hsa_circ_0007059 in lung cancer tissues was firstly determined through RT-qPCR.

Intra-clot Microbubble-Enhanced Ultrasound Accelerates Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for Deep Vein Thrombosis: A Clinical Study.

Insufficiency of microbubbles in the vessel-obstructing thrombus significantly reduces the effectiveness of ultrasound thrombolysis. With catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT), microbubbles can be delivered directly into the thrombus. In this study, we combined CDT with intra-clot microbubble-enhanced ultrasound thrombolysis (IMUT) to investigate its safety and efficiency in thrombolysis in patients with acute lower limb deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Stable cavitation using acoustic phase-change dodecafluoropentane nanoparticles for coronary micro-circulation thrombolysis.

Background: The thrombolysis in micro-circulation after acute myocardial infarction has been an unsolved issue, as elimination effect of acute thrombolysis and primary intervention were unsatisfied. Stable cavitation using acoustic phase-change nanoparticles may have potential for thrombolysis. Therefore, we sought to investigate a novel treatment method with dodecafluoropentane (DDFP) nanoparticles for rapid and effective thrombolysis in an in-vitro artificial vascular system, as a mimicking preparation of coronary circulation.

Effect of Microbubble-Enhanced Ultrasound on Radiofrequency Ablation of Rabbit Liver.

Microbubble-enhanced ultrasound (MEUS) can non-invasively disrupt and block liver blood perfusion. It may potentially overcome the heat sink effect during a thermal ablation and consequently enhance radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the liver. We propose a new strategy combining RFA with MEUS.

Ultrasound and Intra-Clot Microbubbles Enhanced Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis in Vitro and in Vivo.

Insufficient penetration of microbubbles (MBs) into the vessel-obstructing thrombi significantly reduces the effectiveness of ultrasound thrombolysis (UT). The widely performed catheter-directed therapy (CDT) makes it possible to increase the local concentration of MBs in the clot. In an occluded vessel with a bypass, treatment of fresh human whole blood clots with CDT-based UT (intra-clot injection of MBs and urokinase, with ultrasound exposure) resulted in a significantly higher percentage of weight loss (35.

Guided longer pulses from a diagnostic ultrasound and intraclot microbubble enhanced catheter-directed thrombolysis in vivo.

The mechanism of ultrasound thrombolysis (UT) is generally attributed to cavitation. The insufficiency of microbubbles (MB) to serve as cavitation nuclei in the vessel-obstructing thrombi significantly reduces the effectiveness of UT. Taking advantage of the widely performed catheter-directed therapy (CDT), in a thrombo-embolized rabbit IVC model with a simultaneous catheter directed rt-PA thrombolysis procedure, guided moderate mechanical index longer pulses from a modified diagnostic ultrasound transducer, combined with an intraclot infusion of MB, significantly accelerated the thrombolysis process.

The Efficacy of Single-Agent Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy in Biologically Selected Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of 19 Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of first-generation single-agent epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients with known EGFR mutation status, we undertook this pooled analysis.

Method: We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, the Science Citation Index, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meetings.

Results: Out of 2,129 retrieved articles, 19 RCTs enrolling 2,016 patients with wild-type EGFR tumors and 1,034 patients with mutant EGFR tumors were identified.

Impact of microbubble enhanced, pulsed, focused ultrasound on tumor circulation of subcutaneous VX2 cancer.

Background: Intravascular microbubble-enhanced acoustic cavitation is capable of disrupting the vascular walls of capillaries and small vessels. This study was designed to investigate the impact of microbubble-enhanced, pulsed and focused ultrasound (MEUS) on the blood perfusion of subcutaneous VX2 tumors in rabbits.

Methods: Subcutaneous VX2 cancers in twenty New Zealand rabbits were treated by combining high-pressure amplitude, pulsed and focused therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) and intravenous microbubble injections.

Improvements in cerebral blood flow and recanalization rates with transcranial diagnostic ultrasound and intravenous microbubbles after acute cerebral emboli.

Objectives: Intravenous microbubbles (MBs) and transcutaneous ultrasound have been used to recanalize intra-arterial thrombi without the use of tissue plasminogen activator. In the setting of acute ischemic stroke, it was our objective to determine whether skull attenuation would limit the ability of ultrasound alone to induce the type and level of cavitation required to dissolve thrombi and improve cerebral blood flow (CBF) in acute ischemic stroke.

Materials And Methods: In 40 pigs, bilateral internal carotid artery occlusions were created with 4-hour-old thrombi.

[Changes of serum neuron-specific enolase and serum ferritin levels in patients with pneumoconiosis].

Objective: To investigate the changes in serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and serum ferritin (SF) in patients with pneumoconiosis and their relationship with the onset of pneumoconiosis.

Methods: The serum NSE and SF levels in the peripheral blood of patients with pneumoconiosis were measured by electrochemical fluorescence immunoassay.

Results: The patients with first-stage pneumoconiosis and second-stage pneumoconiosis had significantly higher serum NSE and SF levels than the control group (23.

Diagnostic ultrasound induced inertial cavitation to non-invasively restore coronary and microvascular flow in acute myocardial infarction.

Ultrasound induced cavitation has been explored as a method of dissolving intravascular and microvascular thrombi in acute myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to determine the type of cavitation required for success, and whether longer pulse duration therapeutic impulses (sustaining the duration of cavitation) could restore both microvascular and epicardial flow with this technique. Accordingly, in 36 hyperlipidemic atherosclerotic pigs, thrombotic occlusions were induced in the mid-left anterior descending artery.

Combination of real time three-dimensional echocardiography with diagnostic catheterization to derive left ventricular pressure-volume relations.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the left ventricular (LV) myocardial contractility index-Emax using transesophageal real time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) combined with catheterization.

Methods: Transesophageal RT3DE (single beat, X7-2 × matrix, iE33, Philips) was used to obtain real time LV volumes in pigs. Volumes were integrated with LV pressures from conductance catheterization (CC) to create RT3DE pressure-volume relations.

Microbubble cavitation imaging.

Ultrasound cavitation of microbubble contrast agents has a potential for therapeutic applications such as sonothrombolysis (STL) in acute ischemic stroke. For safety, efficacy, and reproducibility of treatment, it is critical to evaluate the cavitation state (moderate oscillations, stable cavitation, and inertial cavitation) and activity level in and around a treatment area. Acoustic passive cavitation detectors (PCDs) have been used to this end but do not provide spatial information.

Validation of admittance computed left ventricular volumes against real-time three-dimensional echocardiography in the porcine heart.

The admittance and Wei's equation is a new technique for ventricular volumetry to determine pressure-volume relations that addresses traditional conductance-related issues of parallel conductance and field correction factor. These issues with conductance have prevented researchers from obtaining real-time absolute ventricular volumes. Moreover, the time-consuming steps involved in processing conductance catheter data warrant the need for a better catheter-based technique for ventricular volumetry.

Microbubble mediated thrombus dissolution with diagnostic ultrasound for the treatment of chronic venous thrombi.

Background: Central venous catheter (CVC) thrombi result in significant morbidity in children, and currently available treatments are associated with significant risk. We sought to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of microbubble (MB) enhanced sonothrombolysis for aged CVC associated thrombi in vivo.

Methods And Results: A model of chronic indwelling CVC in the low superior vena cava with thrombus in situ was established after feasibility and safety testing in 7 pigs; and subsequently applied for repeated, sonothrombolytic treatments in 9 pigs (total 24 treatments).

Disruption of splenic circulation using microbubble-enhanced ultrasound and prothrombin: a preliminary study.

The spleen is a solid organ in which splenomegaly frequently develops and to which abdominal blunt trauma occurs. In this study, we demonstrated the potential therapeutic effect of microbubble-enhanced ultrasound (MEUS) combined with prothrombin to disrupt splenic circulation. A high-pressure-amplitude therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) device was used to treat 36 surgically exposed spleens in healthy New Zealand rabbits.