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SuperSonic shear imaging for the differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the diagnostic value of SuperSonic shear imaging (SSI) for the differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules through meta-analysis.

Methods

Online database searches were performed on PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science until 31 July 2021. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Three measures of diagnostic test performance were used to examine the value of SSI, including the summary area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), the summary diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and the summary sensitivity and specificity. Heterogeneity was explored using meta-regression and subgroup analyses.

Results

Finally, 21 studies with 3376 patients were included in this study. There were a total of 4296 thyroid nodules, in which 1806 malignant nodules and 2490 benign ones were involved. Thyroid nodules exhibited a malignancy rate of 42.0% (range 5.6–79.8%), 95.1% of which were of papillary variant. SSI showed a summary sensitivity of 74% [95% confidence interval (CI) 67–79%], specificity of 82% (95% CI 77–87%) and AUROC of 0.85 (95% CI 0.82–0.88) for the differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. The summary positive likelihood ratio (LR), negative LR, and DOR were 4.2 (95% CI 3.3–5.3), 0.32 (95% CI 0.26–0.40), and 13 (95% CI 9–18), respectively.

Conclusions

SSI showed high accuracy in the diagnostic differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules and can be served as a noninvasive and important adjunct for thyroid nodule evaluation.

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Funding

This work was supported by Sciences and Technology project of Fujian Provincial Department (2019J01166), Innovative medical research project of Fujian Province (2018-CX-33) and High-level talent program of sciences and technology project of Quanzhou (2018C044R).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, No. 34 North Zhongshan Road, Quanzhou, 362000, Fujian, China

    Y. Chen, Z. Jiang, Q. Cai, L. Huang & H. Huang

  2. Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian, China

    B. Dong

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  1. Y. Chen
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Correspondence to H. Huang.

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Chen, Y., Dong, B., Jiang, Z. et al. SuperSonic shear imaging for the differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules: a meta-analysis. J Endocrinol Invest 45, 1327–1339 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-022-01765-y

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