rostatic arterial embolization (PAE) is a safe and effective therapeutic option for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), as has been indicated by multiple studies (1-8). The major technical challenge of PAE is the identification and catheterization of the prostatic arteries (PAs), especially with regard to navigating arteries with atherosclerosis and variant prostatic vascular anatomy, leading to longer procedures and higher doses of radiation (9,10). There are many branches of the internal iliac artery (IIA) that cross over and overlap with each other, which seriously affects the judgment of the origin and trajectory of blood vessels during interventional therapy. Knowledge of the origins, trajectory, and number of PAs can help interventionists avoid the potential risk of unintentional embolization of the surrounding organs (eg, bladder, rectum, or penis), in addition to reducing the procedure time and the radiation dose. At present, identification of the PA is mainly achieved by performing multiple digital subtraction angiography (DSA) examinations or with DSA combined with conebeam CT (10,11). Maclean et al (12) assessed the value of CT angiography in identifying the PAs and anastomoses and found an accuracy of 97.3% for the PA, as well as a sensitivity of 59.0% and a specificity of 94.2% for anastomoses detection. The pitfalls of CT angiography include a higher radiation dose and the risks of contrast material-related renal toxicities; in addition, CT has low tissue resolution and is not suitable for the diagnosis of prostate lesions. Kim et al (9) first assessed the ability of MR angiography to identify the origins of PAs prior to embolization and demonstrated that MR angiography is useful in treatment planning. However, that study was performed in a small sample and did not include a control group. Therefore, larger and controlled clinical trials are required to confirm the value of MR angiography prior to PAE.

Myelolipomas are benign tumors, consisting of hematopoietic cells and mature adipose tissue, which mainly occur within the adrenal gland. Extra-adrenal myelolipomas are rare, and fewer than 60 cases have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a case of intrasplenic myelolipoma in a 42-year-old man with more than 1 month of abdominal pain. Computed tomography scanning revealed a giant, heterogeneous, well-demarcated mass in the spleen. Splenectomy was performed, and an intrasplenic giant mass was completely excised. The diagnosis of myelolipoma was made based on morphological examination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the third reported case of myelolipoma in the human spleen.

Objective. The study focused on the correlation between lower extremity arteriosclerosis and diabetic mellitus (DM) foot, and it was explored by virtue of ultrasound images processed by an intelligent algorithm. Methods. A total of 60 DM foot patients admitted to our hospital in the past three years were selected and divided into two groups according to their condition. Patients with DM foot alone were in group B (30 cases), and patients with DM foot combined with lower extremity arteriosclerosis occlusion were in group C (30 cases). 30 healthy people were in group A as a control. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to examine the arteries of the lower extremities of all subjects. It the intramedia thickness (IMT) from the femoral artery to the dorsal foot artery was recorded, whether there was plaque in the artery or knowing the size of the plaque, its echo, and distribution, and whether the artery had stenosis. Next, the stenosis percentage was calculated. Additionally, the general information of patients was analyzed. At the same time, an intelligent algorithm was used to process ultrasound images, and its effects on image quality were evaluated. Results. Doppler ultrasound images processed by Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) had less noise and better quality, and key information about the lesion was clearly displayed. There was no statistical difference between the general data of the three groups of patients; group B and group C had higher IMT value, plaque incidence, arterial stenosis incidence, and degree of stenosis versus group A, and there were statistically significant differences between groups B and C. In particular, the incidence of femoral artery stenosis and the degree of stenosis were significantly higher in group C than in group B. The rate of stenosis above grade I in group C was as high as 71%, while that in group B was only 19%; in Group C, the incidence of stenosis above grade II was 30%, and that in group B was 13.1%. Compared with group A, group B and group C had decreased peak arterial blood velocity (PSV), resistance index (RI), and pulse index (PI), and there were statistically significant differences between groups B and C. Conclusion. DM foot is a risk factor for arteriosclerosis occlusion; color Doppler ultrasound demonstrates good diagnostic effects on arteriosclerosis occlusion; the algorithm proposed in this study can improve the quality of Doppler ultrasound images and has a high application value.

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Neurogenic bladder is a dysfunction of the lower urinary tract caused by nervous system disorder. We investigated the trends in publication of articles under the topic “neurogenic bladder” using bibliometric analysis. Articles on neurogenic bladder, published between 1995 and 2014, were retrieved from the ISI Web of Science citation database. We analyzed the search results for authors, countries, institutions, journals, and top-cited papers. A total of 1,904 articles were retrieved. There was a small increase in the number of articles on neurogenic bladder from 1995 (n = 43) to 2014 (n = 117). The USA was the leading country in the total number of articles (n = 598). However, the number of publications from China has rapidly increased, and China was ranked second in 2014. Emmanuel Chartier-Kastler (n = 65) was the most productive author, and University of Paris VI (Paris 6) (n = 61) was the most productive institution. The Journal of Urology published the greatest number of articles on this topic (n = 285). Articles on neurogenic bladder were often published in a professional journal under the category Urology & Nephrology, Neurosciences & Neurology, or Rehabilitation. Visualization analysis based on co-citation networks was conducted using CiteSpace III. Visualization analysis revealed that the hot spots in neurogenic bladder were botulinum toxin-A, prazosin, bethanechol, and afferent pathways. These findings provide new insight into the publication trends and hot spots in neurogenic bladder.