Characteristics of the included studies
| Study | Year | Nation | SEN (%) | SPE (%) | Field (T) | Enrolment | Design | Reference | Blinding | b value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Razek et al18 | 2008 | Egypt | 98 | 92 | 1.5 | Consecutive | pro | Histopathologic | ND | 500 |
| Li et al17 | 2009 | China | 79 | 86 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 150 |
| 86 | 77 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 300 | |||
| 93 | 58 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 500 | |||
| Schueller-Weidekamm et al15 | 2009 | Austria | 85 | 100 | 1.0 | ND | pro | Both | Unblinded | 800 |
| Bozgeyik et al1 | 2009 | Turkey | 89 | 100 | 1.5 | Consecutive | pro | FNAB | Blinded | 100 |
| 100 | 80 | 1.5 | Consecutive | pro | FNAB | Blinded | 200 | |||
| 90 | 100 | 1.5 | Consecutive | pro | FNAB | Blinded | 300 | |||
| Ren et al16 | 2010 | China | 90 | 90 | 1.5 | Consecutive | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 100 |
| 83 | 90 | 1.5 | Consecutive | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 200 | |||
| 93 | 83 | 1.5 | Consecutive | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 300 | |||
| 93 | 97 | 1.5 | Consecutive | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 400 | |||
| Yan et al14 | 2011 | China | 87 | 100 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 500 |
| Aydin et al13 | 2012 | Turkey | 92 | 75 | 1.5 | Consecutive | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 400 |
| El-Hariri et al12 | 2012 | Egypt | 94 | 95 | 1.5 | ND | pro | Both | ND | 500 |
| Mutlu et al11 | 2012 | Turkey | 80 | 97 | 1.5 | ND | pro | Both | ND | 1000 |
| Nakahira et al10 | 2012 | Japan | 94 | 83 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 1000 |
| Yue et al9 | 2012 | China | 86 | 79 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 300 |
| Ilica et al8 | 2013 | Turkey | 90 | 100 | 3 | ND | pro | Both | ND | 1000 |
| Shi et al7 | 2013 | China | 92 | 88 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | ND | 500 |
| Wu et al6 | 2013 | China | 77 | 100 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 300 |
| 68 | 64 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 500 | |||
| 54 | 71 | 1.5 | ND | retro | Histopathologic | Blinded | 800 | |||
| Elshafey et al5 | 2013 | Egypt | 96 | 92 | 1.5 | ND | pro | Both | Blinded | 1000 |
Histopathologic and FNAB.
FNAB, Fine-needle aspiration biopsy; ND, not mentioned; pro, prospective; retro, retrospective; SEN, sensitivity; SPE, specificity.