Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35788082›Full record

SynthesisBMJ open2022

Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound, CT and their combination in detecting cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jian Yang, Fengyan Zhang, Ying Qiao

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07357571 (Multicenter Retrospective Study of Dual-mode Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound Predictive Model for Lymph Node Metastasis Burden in T1N0M0 Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma), which is not on this map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT07357571 recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

Multicenter Retrospective Study of Dual-mode Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound Predictive Model for Lymph Node Metastasis Burden in T1N0M0 Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

TypeobservationalSponsorSun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen UniversityRan2025 to 2026Enrolled600ConditionsThyroid Papillary Carcinoma, Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. A Comparison of Detection Rates Between Ultrasound and Post-Therapeutic I-131 SPECT/CT for Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jian Yang *Department of Radiology, Taiyuan Xishan Hospital Co., Ltd, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Fengyan Zhang *Department of Radiology, First Clinical Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Ying QiaoDepartment of Radiology, First Clinical Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China qiaoying910723@163.com.ORCID 0000-0001-9275-0113

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound (US), CT and their combination in detecting cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).

methodsMedline (via PubMed), Web of Science, Embase were searched to identify studies published till 5 December 2021 that used US and CT to detect CLNM in patients with PTC. The primary outcomes were sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic ORs in neck-level-based (lymph nodes are analysed by neck level) or patient-based (lymph nodes are analysed by patient) analysis. Secondary outcomes were sensitivity, specificity and DORs in the central and lateral compartments.

resultsFourteen studies (6167 patients with 11 601 neck lymph nodes) met the inclusion criteria. Based on the neck-level-based analysis, the pooled sensitivity, specificity and DORs were 0.35 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.37), 0.95 (95% CI 0.94 to 0.95) and 13.94 (95% CI 9.34 to 20.82) for US, were 0.46 (95% CI 0.44 to 0.47), 0.88 (95% CI 0.87 to 0.89) and 7.24 (95% CI 5.46 to 9.62) for CT, were 0.51 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.52), 0.85 (95% CI 0.84 to 0.86), 6.01 (95% CI 3.84 to 9.40) for the combination of US and CT. In the patient-based analysis, the pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity and DOR were 0.41 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.46), 0.92 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.94) and 7.56 (95% CI 4.08 to 14.01) for US, were 0.49 (0.44 to 0.54), 0.91 (0.89 to 0.94), 9.40 (5.79 to 15.27) for CT, and were 0.64 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.71), 0.83 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.88), 8.59 (95% CI 5.37 to 13.76) for the combination of US and CT. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest US, with a DOR almost twice that of CT in the neck-level-based analysis, was superior to CT in detecting CLNM in patients with PTC, especially in the lateral compartment. The combination of US and CT increased the sensitivity from 41%-49% for the individual modalities to 64% for combined modalities in the patient-based analysis.

Indexed as

Thyroid NeoplasmsHumansLymphatic MetastasisLymph NodesThyroid Cancer, PapillaryTomography, X-Ray Computedcomputed tomographyultrasound

Identifiers

PMID35788082
PMCPMC9255397

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.