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European Radiology
Published in: European Radiology 5/2021

01-05-2021 | Metastasis | Head and Neck

Comparison of the diagnostic performances of US-guided fine needle aspiration cytology and thyroglobulin measurement for lymph node metastases in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Authors: Rong-Bin Liu, Da-Lei Zhou, Bo-Heng Xu, Xin-Hua Yang, Qing Liu, Xiao Zhang, Tao Tang, Zu-Lu Ye, Yue Li

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 5/2021

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Abstract

Objectives

Ultrasound (US)-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and thyroglobulin measurement (FNA-Tg) are two common methods for confirming lymph node metastases (LNM) in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). This study aimed at comparing the diagnostic performance of FNAC, FNA-Tg alone, and in combination by means of a meta-analysis.

Methods

Eligible articles were selected according to predefined criteria, and their quality was evaluated as per the QUADAS-2 checklist. We calculated pooled sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive/negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and plotted the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve using the Meta-DiSc1.4 software.

Results

Twenty-one studies pooling 1662 malignant and 1279 benign LNs from 2712 patients with DTC were included. The results showed that FNAC was more specific (pooled Sp, 0.98) while FNA-Tg was more sensitive (pooled Se, 0.94). FNAC and FNAC+FNA-Tg performed better postoperatively than FNA-Tg, while FNA-Tg performed better preoperatively. The combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg could achieve a better diagnostic performance than each alone (DOR 446.00, area under the curve [AUC] 0.9862), no matter preoperatively (DOR 378.14, AUC 0.9879) or postoperatively (DOR 788.72, AUC 0.9930). Besides, the combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg/serum-Tg ratio obtained a higher Sp (0.98) than the combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg.

Conclusion

The addition of FNA-Tg, especially the FNA-Tg/serum-Tg ratio, to FNAC could increase the diagnostic performance of LNM in both preoperative and postoperative patients with DTC. Since one test or test combinations could perform differently according to the clinical situation, the best-fitting test should be chosen accordingly.

Key Points

• FNAC is more specific than FNA-Tg while FNA-Tg is more sensitive than FNAC.
• The combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg could achieve a better diagnostic performance than either alone, no matter preoperatively or postoperatively.
• The combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg/serum-Tg ratio could reach a higher Sp than the combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg.
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Metadata
Title
Comparison of the diagnostic performances of US-guided fine needle aspiration cytology and thyroglobulin measurement for lymph node metastases in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a meta-analysis
Authors
Rong-Bin Liu
Da-Lei Zhou
Bo-Heng Xu
Xin-Hua Yang
Qing Liu
Xiao Zhang
Tao Tang
Zu-Lu Ye
Yue Li
Publication date
01-05-2021
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 5/2021
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-07400-9

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