Background: In recent years, ultrasound elastography (USE) has been the main diagnostic technique for benign and malignant thyroid nodules. However, it cannot display the blood flow signals of nodules with smaller diameters clearly, which decreases its diagnostic accuracy.
Methods: Chinese and English databases were searched using "ultrasonic elastography", "benign and malignant thyroid nodules", and "diagnose" as the search terms. RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis.
Results: A total of 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Eight articles analyzed clinical symptoms, and the heterogeneity test results were Chi2 =7.46, df=7, I2=6%, and P=0.38; and Z=11.44, OR =14.58, 95% confidential interval (CI): 9.21-23.07, and P<0.01. The diagnostic efficacy of USE was analyzed in 8 articles, and the heterogeneity test results were Chi2 =3.03, df=7, I2=0%, and P=0.88; and Z=6.33, OR =7.47, 95% CI: 4.01-13.93, and P<0.01. The pathological diagnosis results of randomized controlled trials were analyzed in 10 literatures, and the heterogeneity test results were Tau2 =0.78, Chi2 =20.97, df=9, I2=57%, and P=0.01; and Z=7.27, OR =14.67, 95% CI: 7.11-30.27, and P<0.01. After meta-analysis, the combined sensitivity was 72.26% (95% CI: 0.625-0.764) and the combined specificity was 95.35% (95% CI: 0.815-0.943). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.857.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis confirmed that USE shows high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing benign and malignant thyroid nodules, which could reduce the false negative rate (FNR) and false positive rate (FPR), showing high clinical diagnostic value.
Keywords: Ultrasound elastography (USE); benign and malignant; thyroid nodules.
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