• Yan Ding, Yulan Peng, Jing Zhang, Xueqin Pan, Xu Huang, and Chun-Quan Zhang.
• Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Apr 12; 103 (15): e37768e37768.

BackgroundUsing meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).MethodsFor this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, WanFang Data, VPCS Data, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure electronic databases for diagnostic studies on PTMC by CEUS from January 2013 to November 2022. Data were not available or incomplete such as case reports, nonhuman studies, etc, were excluded. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in diagnosing PTMC. The quality of the evidence was assessed with the QUADAS-2 scale. This study is registered on PROSPERO, number CRD42023409417.ResultsOf 1064 records identified, 33 were eligible. The results showed that the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio of CEUS in diagnosing PTMC were 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.83-0.86), 0.82 (95% CI = 0.80-0.83), 3.90 (95% CI = 3.23-4.72), 0.21 (95% CI = 0.18-0.25), and 20.01 (95% CI = 14.97-26.74), respectively, and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.8930 (the Q index was 0.8239). The Deek funnel plot indicated publication bias (P ˂.01).ConclusionThis meta-analysis provides an overview of diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in diagnosing PTMC which indicates CEUS has a good diagnostic value for PTMC. The limitations of this study are publication bias and strong geographical bias.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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