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Lifang Cheng,1,2,&ast; Kangla Liao,2,&ast; Yingying Wang,2 Fajin Lv,1 Xingming Guo,3 Yineng Zheng,1 Jian Qin2 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Biorheology Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yineng Zheng; Jian Qin Tel/Fax +86-23-89012558Email yinengzheng@cqmu.edu.cn; hjqj2001@163.comBackground: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the ratio of diastolic to systolic durations (D/S) and echocardiographic parameters of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and evaluate whether the D/S can be used as a supplementary biomarker for the classification of heart failure (HF) phenotypes.Methods: In total, 122 CHF patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 40%, 40%≤LVEF< 50%, or ≥ 50% were categorized as having HF with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) (N=32), HF with a mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF) (N=21) or HF with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) (N=69), respectively. All patients underwent echocardiography for assessment of nineteen structural and functional echocardiographic parameters and digital phonocardiography for the measurement of D/S. Spearman correlation was used to analyse the associations between the D/S and echocardiographic parameters. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the associations between the D/S and HF phenotypes, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was employed to evaluate the predictive value of the D/S in the classification of HF phenotypes.Results: The D/S values of patients with HFrEF, HFmr

QuanJiang Li,1,* Juan Song,2,* XinYou Li,1 TianYou Luo,1 Juan Peng,1 FaJin Lv,1 YongMei Li,1 ZhongXin Huang,1 AnRan Wang1 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gastroenterology & Endocrinology, Wuhan No. 9 Hospital, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Juan PengDepartment of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 1 Youyi Road, Yuanjiagang, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 1 898 328 0171Email pengjuan0717@sina.comPurpose: This study aimed to explore the differences in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings between intraspinal tuberculosis and metastatic cancer, which may aid in making the correct diagnosis.Patients and Methods: The clinical features and MRI findings of 15 patients with intraspinal tuberculosis and 11 patients with intraspinal metastatic cancers were retrospectively analyzed.Results: The mean ages of the patients with intraspinal tuberculosis and metastatic cancer were 26.3 (15– 42) and 52.1 (38– 67) years, respectively. All intraspinal tuberculosis cases were secondary to primary extraspinal tuberculosis, including tuberculous meningitis (11/15), as well as pulmonary (9/15), vertebral (5/15), urinary tract (1/15), abdominal (1/15), cervical lymph node (1/15), and multisystem tuberculosis (9/15). The intraspinal metastases originated from the breast (5/11), lung (3/11), kidney (1/11), ovarian (1/11), and nasopharyngeal cancers (1/11). Both intraspinal tuberculosis and metastatic cancers presented with multiple intra- and extramedullary lesions throughout all regional segments of the spinal canal, accompanied by irregularly thickened meninges. Intraspinal tuberculous lesions had indistinct edges that integrated with each other, most of them exhibiti

Dan Zhang,1,2 Xiaojiao Li,2,3 Hua Xiong,2,3 Chao Yang,2,3 Fajin Lv,1 Xianlong Huang,2,3 Qi Li,1 Zhuoyue Tang,2,3 Tianyou Luo1 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; 2Department of Radiology, Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400014, China; 3Molecular and Functional Imaging Laboratory, Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400014, China Objectives: To characterize clinical, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of tuberculosis (TB) of the parotid nodes. Materials and methods: CT (n=21) and MR (n=7) images, and clinical data from 25 patients with TB of the parotid nodes were retrospectively analyzed by two experienced radiologists who reached consensus. Results: Younger patients (aged <50 years) accounted for 72%. Eighty percent of patients were asymptomatic, and had no history of TB exposure. According to clinical and imaging findings, 64% and 60% patients were misdiagnosed as having tumors, respectively. A total of 43 lesions were identified. Thirty-eight (88.4%) lesions involved the superficial lobe. Fourteen (56%) cases had multiple lesions. There were four types of changes in the parotid fascia: local thickening (40%, n=10); local rupture with thickened adjacent skin (28%, n=7); focal bulge (20%, n=5); and no changes (12%, n=3). Cervical lymphadenopathy was seen in 14 out of 25 cases (56%). The lesions were contrast-enhanced in four patterns on CT images: homogeneous enhancement (37.1%, n=13), irregular cyst-like enhancement (37.1%, n=13), thick-walled ring enhancement (14.2%, n=5), and garland-like enhancement (11.4%, n=4). On MRI, the signal intensity of lesions was isointense on T1-weighted image, hyperintense on T2-weighted image, markedly hyperintense on diffusion-weighted imaging, and low on the apparent diffusion coefficient map. The surrounding parotid p