Diagnostic accuracy of dual-energy computed tomography in the diagnosis of neurological complications after endovascular treatment of acute ischaemic stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate dual-energy computed tomography's (DECT) diagnostic performance in detecting neurological complications following endovascular therapy (EVT) of acute ischaemic stroke (AIS).

Methods: We performed the literature search using Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCO, and Science Direct databases for published related studies. The selected studies estimated the validity of DECT in the detection of neurological complications after EVT for AIS. Study quality assessment was performed utilizing the Quality of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 Tool. Our meta-analysis calculated the pooled sensitivity, negative likelihood ratio, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio for each detected complication. The summary receiver operating characteristics (sROC) curve was utilized to estimate the area under the curve (AUC).

Results: Of 22 studies, 21 were included in the quantitative synthesis. In the detection of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), DECT pooled overall sensitivity and specificity were 69.9% (95% CI, 44.5%-86.8%) and 100% (95% CI, 92.1%-100%); whereas, in the detection of ischaemia, they were 85.9% (95% CI, 80.4%-90%) and 90.7% (95% CI, 87%-93.5%), respectively. On the sROC curve, AUC values of 0.954 and 0.952 were recorded for the detection of ICH and ischaemia, respectively.

Conclusions: DECT demonstrated high accuracy and specificity in the detection of neurological complications post-endovascular treatment of AIS. However, further prospective studies with a standardized reference test and a larger sample size are recommended to support these findings.

Advances in knowledge: DECT is a rapid and valid imaging tool for the prediction of ICH and cerebral ischaemia after the EVT of AIS.

Keywords: X-ray computed; cerebral haemorrhage; endovascular therapy; intracerebral haemorrhage; ischaemia; ischaemic stroke; stroke; tomography.