SynthesisEuropean radiology2018
Contrast-enhanced US for characterization of focal liver lesions: a comprehensive meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European radiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Expert consensus regarding the clinical application of liver contrast-enhanced US with Sonazoid (Sonazoid CEUS).International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026Guideline
- Guideline
- Small Study Effects in Diagnostic Imaging Accuracy: A Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Prospective assessment of diagnostic efficacy and safety of SonazoidAbdominal radiology (New York) · 2021Trial
- Review
- Assessment of Kupffer Cell-Specific Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Characterization of Suspicious Malignant Focal Liver Lesions.The Indian journal of radiology & imaging · 2026Article
- Ultrasound innovations in abdominal radiology: evaluation of focal liver lesions.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2025Review
- Non-Invasive Kupffer-CEUS Enhances the Accuracy of Focal Liver Lesions Diagnosis in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis or Fibrosis: A Prospective Multicenter Study from China.Liver cancer · 2025Article
- PEGylated gas vesicles: a promising novel ultrasound contrast agent for diagnosis and guiding radiofrequency ablation of liver tumor.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2025Article
- Differentiation of AFP-negative hepatocellular carcinoma from other intrahepatic malignant lesions by a noninvasive predictive model based on Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Adventurous toothpick: the role of ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024Article
- A combined model based on radiomics features of Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the Kupffer phase for the diagnosis of well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma and atypical focal liver lesions: a prospective, multicenter study.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2024Article
- Ultrasomics differentiation of malignant and benign focal liver lesions based on contrast-enhanced ultrasound.BMC medical imaging · 2024Article
- WFUMB Review Paper. Incidental Findings in Otherwise Healthy Subjects, How to Manage: Liver.Cancers · 2024Review
- Compared with SonoVueQuantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024Article
- Review
- Utilization of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Focal Liver Lesions.International journal of hepatology · 2024Article
- Article
- Ultrasound tissue scatterer distribution imaging: An adjunctive diagnostic tool for shear wave elastography in characterizing focal liver lesions.Ultrasonics sonochemistry · 2023Article
- The Clinical Value of Multimodal Ultrasound for the Differential Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma from Other Liver Tumors in Relation to Histopathology.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in differentiating malignant from benign focal liver lesions (FLLs).
methodsCochrane Library, PubMed and Web of Science databases were systematically searched and checked for studies using CEUS in characterization of FLLs. Data necessary to construct 2×2 contingency tables were extracted from included studies. The QUADAS tool was utilized to assess the methodologic quality of the studies. Meta-analysis included data pooling, subgroup analyses, meta-regression and investigation of publication bias was comprehensively performed.
resultsFifty-seven studies were included in this meta-analysis and the overall diagnostic accuracy in characterization of FLLs was as follows: pooled sensitivity, 0.92 (95%CI: 0.91-0.93); pooled specificity, 0.87 (95%CI: 0.86-0.88); diagnostic odds ratio, 104.20 (95%CI: 70.42-154.16). Subgroup analysis indicated higher diagnostic accuracy of the second-generation contrast agents (CAs) than the first-generation CA (Levovist; DOR: 118.27 vs. 62.78). Furthermore, Sonazoid demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy among three major CAs (SonoVue, Levovist and Sonazoid; DOR: 118.82 vs. 62.78 vs. 227.39). No potential publication bias was observed of the included studies.
conclusionCEUS is an accurate tool to stratify the risk of malignancy in FLLs. The second-generation CAs, especially Sonazoid may greatly improve diagnostic performance. KEY POINTS: • CEUS shows excellent diagnostic accuracy in differentiating malignant from benign FLLs. • The second-generation CAs have higher diagnostic accuracy than first-generation CAs. • Sonazoid demonstrates the highest diagnostic accuracy among three major CAs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.