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Elastography for the differentiation of benign and malignant liver lesions: a meta-analysis

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the overall accuracy of elastography in the diagnosis of benign and malignant liver lesions by liver biopsy as the gold standard. Literature databases were searched. The studies which were related to evaluate the diagnostic value of elastography for differentiation in benign and malignant liver lesions in English or Chinese were included. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was performed, and the areas under the curve (AUC) were also calculated to present the accuracy of the elastography for the diagnosis of benign and malignant liver lesions. Six studies which included a total of 448 liver lesions in 384 patients were analyzed. The summary sensitivity and specificity of elastography for the differentiation of malignant liver lesions were 85 % (95 % CI, 80 to 89 %) and 84 % (95 % CI, 80 to 88 %), respectively. And the summary diagnostic odds ratio was 46.33 (95 % CI, 15.22 to 141.02), and the SROC was 0.9328. Elastography has a high sensitivity and specificity differentiation for benign and malignant liver lesions. As a non-invasive method, it is promising to be applied to clinical practice. To estimate elastography objectively, a large, prospective, international, and multi-center study is still needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Xuelei Ma, Binglan Zhang, Lei Liu & Ping Li

  2. The Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Wenli Zhan

  3. The Department of Gastroenterology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, 221006, China

    Benling Wei

  4. The Department of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine, West China school, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Xin Wu

  5. The Department of Clinical Medical Colleges, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Min Zhou

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  1. Xuelei Ma
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  5. Xin Wu
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Correspondence to Lei Liu or Ping Li.

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Xuelei Ma, Wenli Zhan, Binglan Zhang, and Benling Wei equally contributed to this work.

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Ma, X., Zhan, W., Zhang, B. et al. Elastography for the differentiation of benign and malignant liver lesions: a meta-analysis. Tumor Biol. 35, 4489–4497 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1591-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1591-4

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