Table 1. Characteristics of the included articles.
| Study (ref., year) | Country | Study design | Study type | Center | No. of patients | Age, y [range] | Male/female | No. of nodules | Nodule size, mm [range]* | No. of HCCs | No. of non-HCC malignancies | Benign | Contrast agent | LI-RADS | Reference standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schellhaas B (13) (2017) | Germany | Prospective | Cohort | Single center | 100 | 66.1 [42–85] | 85/15 | 100 | 52.2 [10–290] | 87 | 6 [ICC] | 7 | SonoVue | ACR v2016 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Terzi E (14) (2018) | Italy | Retrospective | Cohort | Multi-center | 848 | 70 [31–89] | 457/391 | 1,006 | 20 [5–150] | 820 | 53 [ICC: 40; CHC: 9; Others: 4] | 133 | SonoVue | ACR v2016 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Chen LD (15) (2019) | China | Retrospective | Case-control | Single center | 210 | 55†, 54‡ [32–84] | 163/47 | 210 | NA [≤30 mm: 25; 31–50 mm: 47; >50 mm: 138] | 105 | 105 [ICC] | 0 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Li J (16) (2019) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 1,366 | 52.3 [18–90] | 1,097/269 | 1,366 | 47 [5–200] | 985 | 139 [ICC: 59; CHC: 14; M: 62; Others: 4] | 242 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Zheng W (17) (2020) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 1,826 | 54 [44–62] | 1,642/184 | 2,020 | NA | 1,514 | 138 [ICC: 57; CHC: 24; M: 53; Others: 4] | 368 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Wang JY (18) (2020) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 258 | 52 [21–82] | 192/66 | 355 | 25 [6–183] | 115 | 5 [ICC: 2; CHC: 1; Others: 2] | 235 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Zhou H (19) (2022) | China | Prospective | Cohort | Multi-center | 96 | 58.8 [35–87]†/ 61.8 [45–79]‡ |
81/15 | 96 | 42.7 | 67 | 22 | 7 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| [9.9–169]†/ 46.3[9.8–100.0]‡ | |||||||||||||||
| Li S (20) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 84 | 57.3 [26–86] | 67/17 | 86 | 25.7 [5.5–96.2] | 53 | 1 [ICC] | 32 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Huang Z (21) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Case-control | Single center | 158 | 53 [28–75]†/ 55 [37–67]‡ |
143/15 | 158 | NA | 106 | 52 [ICC: 32; M: 10; CHC: 4; Others: 6] | 0 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Zuo DS (22) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 215 | NA | 151/67 | 218 | NA | 99 | 27 [ICC: 10; Others: 17] | 92 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Ding J (23) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 264 | 59.4 [26–80] | 202/62 | 264 | 32 [10–95] | 223 | 23 [ICC: 16; CHC: 3; M: 4] | 18 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Lv K (24) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 250 | 61.32 [24–87] | 186/64 | 259 | 52.39 [6–158] | 172 | 61 | 26 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Yang D (25) (2022) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 205 | 52 [19–83] | 162/43 | 205 | 34 [10–50] | 142 | 26 [ICC: 13; M: 8; Others: 5] | 37 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Vidili G (26) (2022) | Italy | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 269 | 69 [43–88] | 219/50 | 511 | 24 [5–200] | 423 | 29 [ICC: 23; M: 3; Others: 3] | 59 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Huang W (27) (2023) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 179 | 53.2 [28–80] | 147/32 | 194 | 21 [9–30] | 144 | 29 [ICC: 11; CHC: 4; M: 9; Others: 5] | 21 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology |
| Ghiuchici AM (28) (2021) | Romania | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 382 | 63 [24–89] | 261/121 | 464 | 46 [8–170] | 359 | 37 | 68 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Pan JM (29) (2021) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 534 | NA | 460/74 | 545 | NA | 503 | 29 | 13 | SonoVue | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Liao W (30) (2023) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 137 | 51 [43–58] | 117/20 | 140 | 35.5 [23.8–61.3] | 119 | 15 [ICC: 6; CHC: 3; M: 2; Others: 4] | 6 | Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology |
| Hwang JA (31) (2022) | Korea | Retrospective | Cohort | Multi-center | 123 | 61.5 [21–86] | 98/25 | 123 | 25 [10–130] | 77 | 15 [ICC: 11; CHC: 2; Others: 2] | 31 | Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Hwang JA (32) (2021) | Korea | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 203 | 61.3 [32–83] | 159/44 | 122§ | 15 [7–50] | 89 | NA | NA | Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Li L (33) (2023) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 171 | 54 | 140/31 | 171 | 47 [9–105] | 114 | 43 | 14 | Sonazoid | Modified LI-RADS | Pathology |
| Li L (34) (2022) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 293 | 55 | 140/31 | 304 | 43 [6–158] | 274 | 14 [ICC: 8; CHC: 1; M: 5] | 16 | Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| SugimotoK (35) (2020) | Japan | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 104 | 70.0 [54.5–78.0] | 74/30 | 104 | 17.9 [13.1–28.2] | 64 | 16 [ICC: 6; M: 9; Others: 1] | 24 | Sonazoid | Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Takahashi H (36) (2022) | Japan | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 102 | 71 [63–78] | 64/48 | 102 | 25.5 [16.8–44.3] | 52 | 36 [ICC: 10; M: 26] | 14 | Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Huang J (37) (2023) | China | Retrospective | Cohort | Single center | 59 | 54 [51–57] | 49/10 | 62 | 35 [10–105] | 55 | 3 [CHC: 1; ICC: 1; M: 1] | 4 | SonoVue/Sonazoid | ACR v2017/Modified LI-RADS | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
| Kang HJ (38) (2020) | Korea | Prospective | Cohort | Single center | 59 | 65 [49–86] | 47/12 | 59 | 28 [11–100] | 43 | 10 [CHC: 3; ICC: 6; Others: 1] | 6 | SonoVue/Sonazoid | ACR v2017 | Pathology or imaging follow-up |
*, the data are presented as the mean or median value with the range in brackets; †, the data are presented as the mean values for the HCC patients; ‡, the data are presented as the mean values for the non-HCC patients; §, only 122 nodules ≥1 cm and had Sonazoid modified LI-RADS category. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LI-RADS, liver imaging reporting and data system; ICC, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; ACR, American College of Radiology; v2016, version 2016; CHC, combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma; NA, not available; v2017, version 2017; M, metastases.