Meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of ultrasound, new ultrasound techniques, or CT alone or in combination for lymph node metastasis in thyroid cancer
10.3760/cma.j.cn131148-20240317-00160
- VernacularTitle:常规超声、超声造影、弹性成像和CT对甲状腺癌淋巴结转移诊断价值的荟萃分析
- Author:
Wei WEI
1
;
Guanghan LI
;
Jingfang DONG
;
Yuxiang WAN
;
Xiangzhu WANG
;
Bo ZHANG
Author Information
1. 中国医学科学院 北京协和医学院 中日友好医院超声医学科，北京 100029
- Keywords:
Ultrasonography;
Thyroid cancer;
Thyroid cancer lymph node metastasis;
CT;
New ultrasound technology;
Meta-analysis
- From:
Chinese Journal of Ultrasonography
2024;33(6):525-537
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To evaluate the practical value of ultrasound, ultrasound new technologies (ultrasound elastography, contrast enhanced ultrasound) and computed tomography (CT) examination alone or the combination of both of the four in the clinical diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer by meta-analysis system.Methods:This study screened relevant literature on ultrasound, new ultrasound technologies, and CT in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer by searching Chinese and English databases from January 2006 to August 2023. Two scholars independently assessed the quality of the literatures and scored them using the QUADAS scale. Then, the diagnostic ratio of single and combined examinations was analyzed by Meta-Disc software, and the heterogeneity test and meta-analysis were performed to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic ratio, accuracy, and area under curve (AUC). Finally, the diagnostic efficacies of different diagnostic techniques and their combination in identifying lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer were assessed by calculating OR and P values by two-by-two comparisons. Results:Sixty-nine diagnostic studies totaling 30, 666 lesions were finally included. The meta-analysis study showed that contrast enhanced ultrasound had the highest sensitivity[0.83(0.77-0.87)], ultrasound specificity was the highest [0.84(0.79-0.88)], the highest AUC was for contrast enhanced ultrasound (0.90), and contrast enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography had high accuracies (0.81, 0.80, respectively) both of them were higher than those of ultrasound (0.77) and CT (0.69). Contrast enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography were both more sensitive than CT, with statistically significant differences between them ( P<0.01); contrast enhanced ultrasound + ultrasound elastography had the highest accuracy, while ultrasound + contrast enhanced ultrasound and contrast enhanced ultrasound + ultrasound elastography were both more sensitive, with no statistically significant differences between them ( P>0.05), but the latter had the highest specificity [0.90(0.88-0.92)], which were statistically significantly different from each other ( P<0.05), ultrasound+ contrast enhanced ultrasound and contrast enhanced ultrasound+ ultrasound elastography had higher sensitivities than ultrasound+ CT, which were statistically different from each other ( P<0.05), and ultrasound+ CT had the lowest specificity [0.76(0.70-0.81)]. Conclusions:The diagnostic efficacy of thyroid cancer lymph node metastasis is highest with contrast enhanced ultrasound. The new ultrasound technique for diagnosing thyroid cancer lymph node metastasis has a higher diagnostic value than CT, and it can be used as a complementary examination to conventional ultrasound.When the two techniques are used in combination, contrast enhanced ultrasound + ultrasound elastography has the highest accuracy, contrast enhanced ultrasound + ultrasound elastography and ultrasound + contrast enhanced ultrasound both have high sensitivity and specificity, and the diagnostic performance of both is higher than that of ultrasound + ultrasound elastography and ultrasound + CT, and in actual clinical practice when ultrasound elastography combined with contrast enhanced ultrasound is limited in the examination, ultrasound combined with contrast enhanced ultrasound can effectively serve as an alternative means to provide a good diagnostic support.
