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Noninvasive Diagnostic Tool (noninvasive + diagnostic_tool)
Selected AbstractsCoronary Flow Reserve by Contrast-Enhanced Echocardiography: A New Noninvasive Diagnostic Tool for Cardiac Allograft VasculopathyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 5p1 2006F. Tona Noninvasive tests have proven unsatisfactory in cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) diagnosis. We assessed coronary flow reserve (CFR) by contrast-enhanced transthoracic echocardiography (CE-TTE) in heart transplantation (HT). CFR was assessed in the left anterior descending coronary artery in 73 HT recipients (59 male, aged 50 ± 12 years at HT), at 8 ± 4.5 years post-HT. CFR measurements were taken blindly from coronary angiographies. CFR cut points were the standard value of ,2 and those defined by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. CFR was lower in patients with CAV (2.3 ± 0.7 vs. 3.2 ± 0.5, p < 0.0001). The ,2 cut point was 100% specific and 38% sensitive. The ,2.7 cut point, optimal by ROC analysis, was 87% specific and 82% sensitive. Accuracy rose from 71% with the standard ,2 cut point to 85% with the optimal cut point of ,2.7. CFR by CE-TTE may offer promise as a novel, easily repeatable and accurate noninvasive tool in CAV detection. However, further longitudinal studies in larger patient cohorts are warranted before widespread adoption can be advocated. [source] Noninvasive diagnostic tools for nonmelanoma skin cancerBRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2007M. Ulrich Summary Minimally invasive diagnostic tools have received increased attention for diagnosis, screening and management of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Several modalities are commercially available, including high frequency ultrasound, optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy. While systematic clinical analyses are often lacking, recent reports have shown promising results for reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) for diagnosis of actinic keratoses and basal cell carcinoma. [source] Role of anti-transglutaminase (anti-tTG), anti-gliadin, and anti-endomysium serum antibodies in diagnosing celiac disease: A comparison of four different commercial kits for anti-tTG determinationJOURNAL OF CLINICAL LABORATORY ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2001D. Basso Abstract The aims of this study were: (1) to compare the diagnostic efficacy for celiac disease (CD) diagnosis of serum determination of anti-gliadin (AG) (IgA and IgG) and anti-endomysium (AE) with that of anti-transglutaminase (AtTG); and (2) to compare the accuracy of four different assays to measure AtTG. We studied 72 children: the histological diagnosis of CD was made in 38 cases and excluded in the remaining 34 children. In fasting sera we measured AE, AG-IgA and IgG, and AtTG, the latter with four different commercial kits (Eurospital, Medipan, Inova, Arnika). Moreover AtTG was measured in a group of 58 CD children after a gluten-free diet. AE was positive in all but 1 case of CD patients (sensitivity = 97%); false positive results were found in 1/34 controls (specificity = 97%). When a specificity of 95% was fixed, the sensitivities were 97% for AE, 83% for AG-IgA, and 63% for AG-IgG; the sensitivities of anti-tTG were 90, 84, 84, and 75% when measured with Eurospital, Medipan, Inova, and Arnika kits respectively. The new AtTG seems to be accurate enough to be proposed as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for CD diagnosis; the 4 kits analyzed showed similar diagnostic efficacy. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 15:112,115, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] In vivo proton MR spectroscopy findings specific for adenylosuccinate lyase deficiencyNMR IN BIOMEDICINE, Issue 5 2010M. Henneke Abstract Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) deficiency is an inherited metabolic disorder affecting predominantly the central nervous system. The disease is characterized by the accumulation of succinylaminoimidazolecarboxamide riboside and succinyladenosine (S-Ado) in tissue and body fluids. Three children presented with muscular hypotonia, psychomotor delay, behavioral abnormalities, and white matter changes on brain MRI. Two of them were affected by seizures. Screening for inborn errors of metabolism including in vitro high resolution proton MRS revealed an ADSL deficiency that was confirmed genetically in all cases. All patients were studied by in vivo proton MRS. In vitro high resolution proton MRS of patient cerebrospinal fluid showed singlet resonances at 8.27 and 8.29,ppm that correspond to accumulated S-Ado. In vivo proton MRS measurements also revealed a prominent signal at 8.3,ppm in gray and white matter brain regions of all patients. The resonance was undetectable in healthy human brain. In vivo proton MRS provides a conclusive finding in ADSL deficiency and represents a reliable noninvasive diagnostic tool for this neurometabolic disorder. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Geographic variation in loud calls of sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ssp.) and their implications for conservationAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2008Maria Méndez-Cárdenas Abstract Bioacoustical studies in nonhuman primates have shown that loud calls can be reliably used as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for discriminating cryptic taxa, for their monitoring in the field as well as for the reconstruction of their phylogeny. To date, it is unknown, whether loud calls can be used for these purposes in sportive lemurs, for which current genetic studies suggest the existence of at least 24 cryptic species. The aim of this study was to compare the structure of loud calls of populations of sportive lemurs to characterize informative acoustic traits for taxa discrimination and to establish a phylogenetic tree based on acoustic structure. We have based our study on Inter-River-Systems (IRSs) as operational taxonomic units. Samples were collected from nine different localities of four IRSs along a transect from northwestern to northern Madagascar. Two call types, the ouah and the high-pitched call, were present in almost all IRSs. Six temporal and eight spectral parameters were measured in 196 calls of the best quality given by 21 different males. Variation within and between IRSs was assessed by multivariate statistics. Loud calls differed significantly among the different IRSs. The IRSs varied most in spectral parameters, whereas temporal parameters were less variable. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony yielded 11 out of 17 acoustic characters as phylogenetically informative. The acoustic tree had an average branch support of 78%. Its topology coincided less with geographic distances than with genetic tree topology. Altogether our findings revealed that loud calls separated geographically isolated populations of sportive lemurs specifically. Based on these results, noninvasive tools for diagnosis and monitoring of cryptic species in nature can be developed for conservation management. Am. J. Primatol. 70:828,838, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Coronary Flow Reserve by Transthoracic Echocardiography Predicts Epicardial Intimal Thickening in Cardiac Allograft VasculopathyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 7 2010F. Tona Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in heart transplantation (HT). We sought to investigate the role of coronary flow reserve (CFR) by contrast-enhanced transthoracic echocardiography (CE-TTE) in CAV diagnosis. CAV was defined as maximal intimal thickness (MIT) assessed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) ,0.5 mm. CFR was assessed in the left anterior descending coronary artery in 22 HT recipients at 6 ± 4 years post-HT. CAV was diagnosed in 10 patients (group A), 12 had normal coronaries (group B). The mean MIT was 0.7 ± 0.1 mm (range 0.03,1.8). MIT was higher in group A (1.16 ± 0.3 mm vs. 0.34 ± 0.07 mm, p < 0.0001). CFR was 3.1 ± 0.8 in all patients and lower in group A (2.5 ± 0.6 vs. 3.7 ± 0.3, p < 0.0001). CFR was inversely related with MIT (r =,0.774, p < 0.0001). A cut point of ,2.9, identified as optimal by receiver operating characteristics analysis was 100% specific and 80% sensitive (PPV = 100%, NPV = 89%, Accuracy = 91%). CFR assessment by CE-TTE is a novel noninvasive diagnostic tool in the detection of CAV defined as MIT ,0.5 mm. CFR by CE-TTE may reduce the need for routine IVUS in HT. [source] | ||||||||||