Effect of CT manifestations of cholesteatomatous otitis media on matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the serum of patients was investigated. A total of 176 patients with cholesteatomatous otitis media were enrolled as the study group and 181 patients with simple otitis media were enrolled as the control group. Patients were admitted to the Changxing People's Hospital from January 2010 to December 2016. The patients in the study group were classified according to the 64-row spiral CT diagnosis. The expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of the selected patients were detected by ELISA. MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 expression levels in the study group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 expression levels in the serum of the patients with injured ossicular chain were significantly higher than those in the serum of patients with injured malleus or incus (P<0.05), and significantly higher than those in the serum of patients with intact ossicular chain (P<0.05). The levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of the patients whose malleus or incus was injured were higher than those in the serum of the patients with intact ossicular chain (P<0.05). There was an obvious positive correlation between the injury degree of different sclerotins in CT manifestations of the patients in the study group and MMP-2, MMP-9, and IL-6 (P<0.05). The high expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of patients with cholesteatomatous otitis media were positively correlated with the injury degree of ossicle, which may be a sign of poor prognosis of cholesteatomatous otitis media.

As a non-invasive method, positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) using 2-deox y-2-fluoro-18-fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) is applied as a useful modality in the diagnosis of breast cancer. By evaluating glucose metabolism, this method can also be used in staging, restaging and post-therapeutic response evaluation. To evaluate the reliability of the 18 F-FDG PET/CT-based peri-tumoral halo uptake layer (PHL) method for assessing tumor size, a total of 79 female patients with breast cancer who underwent 18 F-FDG PET/CT, breast ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations were included in the present study. Upon examination by two independent nuclear medicine radiologists, tumor sizes were estimated by 18 F-FDG PET/CT using margins defined as the inner line of the PHL. Pathological tumor sizes were evaluated on the direction of largest diameter indicated by previous imaging examination, which were also utilized as final standards. Statistical analysis of the results suggested that 18 F-FDG PET/CT had a more linear correlation with pathology compared with breast ultrasound (r 2 =0.89 vs. 0.73) and MRI (r 2 =0.89 vs. 0.69) in terms of tumor size estimation, including a significantly lower bias in size difference relative to pathology. 18 F-FDG PET/CT also exhibited improved performance compared with breast ultrasound and MRI in T stage assessment. These results indicated that the 18 F-FDG PET/CT-based PHL method was superior to breast ultrasound and MRI, and that it provides sufficient reliability and high accuracy for measuring tumor size in patients with breast cancer.