SynthesisFrontiers in surgery2026
Diagnostic yield, safety, and molecular-era clinical utility of stereotactic biopsy for brainstem lesions: a contemporary systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background/objectives: Stereotactic biopsy of brainstem lesions must balance diagnostic and molecular information against procedure-related neurological risk. We updated the evidence base after a reviewer-directed literature coverage and overlap audit. Methods: This PRISMA 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261432357). Searches covered English and Chinese bibliographic databases, trial registries, and Google Scholar, with forward and backward citation tracking during revision. Diagnostic yield and overall complications were analyzed with logit random-effects models; permanent neurological morbidity and procedure-related mortality were analyzed with binomial-normal generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). Molecular clinical utility was synthesized narratively because its constructs and denominators were heterogeneous. Results: Seventy-six reports met review-level eligibility (71 full-text and 5 abstract/conference reports), and 55 independent studies contributed to at least one preferred quantitative synthesis. Diagnostic yield was 1,814/1,956, with a pooled estimate of 93.5% (95% CI, 91.5%-95.0%). Overall complications were 162/1,797, with a pooled estimate of 10.5% (95% CI, 8.5%-12.8%). Permanent neurological morbidity was reported in 17 compatible studies (14/859; GLMM 0.83%, 95% CI, 0.22%-3.03%). Procedure-related mortality was 11/1,765 (crude 0.62%, exact 95% CI, 0.31%-1.11%); the primary GLMM estimate was 0.30% (95% CI, 0.07%-1.24%), whereas continuity-corrected models produced higher estimates. Diagnostic yield remained 93.7% (95% CI, 91.3%-95.5%) after excluding studies with fewer than 20 participants, although observed yield was inversely associated with study size. Conclusions: In selected published cohorts, stereotactic biopsy provided high diagnostic yield. Overall complications were clinically meaningful, while observed procedure-related mortality was below 1% and permanent morbidity was uncommon but imprecisely estimated. Population, era, technique, outcome definition, and small-study analyses support cautious individualized interpretation rather than a universal biopsy recommendation. PROSPERO registration: CRD420261432357.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.