Zhao Ping, Xu Erdong, Yuan Rui, Zhou Ruhai, Pan Jianlian
Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Affiliated People's Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315040, People's Republic of China.
Clinical Application Department, Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co, Ltd, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, 518057, People's Republic of China.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2022 Jul 11;18:1397-1403. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S372557. eCollection 2022.
To investigate the predictive value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with serum miR-124 level in acute cerebral infarction (ACI) and their association with the contrast enhancement of carotid atherosclerotic plaque.
Totally 60 patients diagnosed with ACI and 60 controls were included in the study. All the subjects had carotid atherosclerotic plaques, and all of them were examined by CEUS and were tested for serum miR-124 levels.
Time to peak (TTP) and mean transit time (MTT) in the ACI group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (P < 0.05), but the peak intensity ratio (PIR), the area under the curve (AUC), and relative expression levels of serum miR-124 were notably greater in the ACI group (P < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in TTP, MTT, PIR, AUC, and serum miR-124 expression in patients with different cerebral infarct areas in the ACI group (P < 0.05). Besides, the sensitivity and specificity of serum miR-124 levels for the prediction of ACI were 71.67% and 90.00%, respectively, with a cut-off value of 1.52, and the sensitivity was 86.67% and specificity was 93.33% of CEUS combined with serum miR-124 in the prediction of ACI. The ACI group showed a higher proportion of grades 2 and 3 (P < 0.001). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the intraplaque contrast enhancement was negatively related to TTP and MTT but had a positive correlation with PIR, AUC, and serum miR-124 levels.
Grades 2 and 3 intraplaque contrast enhancement and serum miR-124 level of 1.52 had high sensitivity and specificity to predict ACI. Moreover, the CEUS parameters combined with serum miR-124 level could improve the performance in predicting ACI and had auxiliary value in evaluating the stability of carotid atherosclerotic plaques.
探讨超声造影（CEUS）联合血清miR-124水平对急性脑梗死（ACI）的预测价值及其与颈动脉粥样硬化斑块强化的关系。
本研究纳入60例确诊为ACI的患者和60例对照者。所有受试者均有颈动脉粥样硬化斑块，均接受CEUS检查并检测血清miR-124水平。
ACI组的达峰时间（TTP）和平均通过时间（MTT）显著短于对照组（P<0.05），但ACI组的峰值强度比（PIR）、曲线下面积（AUC）和血清miR-124的相对表达水平明显更高（P<0.05）。ACI组不同脑梗死面积患者的TTP、MTT、PIR、AUC和血清miR-124表达存在统计学差异（P<0.05）。此外，血清miR-124水平预测ACI的敏感性和特异性分别为71.67%和90.00%，截断值为1.52，CEUS联合血清miR-124预测ACI的敏感性为86.67%，特异性为93.33%。ACI组2级和3级的比例更高（P<0.001）。Pearson相关性分析显示，斑块内造影剂增强与TTP和MTT呈负相关，但与PIR、AUC和血清miR-124水平呈正相关。
斑块内造影剂增强2级和3级以及血清miR-124水平为1.52对预测ACI具有较高的敏感性和特异性。此外，CEUS参数联合血清miR-124水平可提高预测ACI的性能，对评估颈动脉粥样硬化斑块的稳定性具有辅助价值。
