Table 1.

Patient characteristics of the studies included for the present meta-analysis

Study	Year	n	Male/female ratio	Mean age (yr) [range]	Thyroid nodule (% malignant)	Mean tumor size (cm) [range]
Dixon et al. [9]	2000	40	5/35	42 [25–75]	33	[1–3.5]
Kelemen et al. [18]	1998	17	3/14	48 [22–68]	71	2 [0.8–4]
Haigh and Giuliano [19]	2000	38	–	–	45	–
Arch-Ferrer et al. [20]	2001	22	2/20	37	100	2.5
Takami et al. [21]	2003	68	8/60	42 [22–69]	100	1.9 [0.6–3.9]
Tsugawa et al. [22]	2001	38	8/30	48 [24–72]	100	1.3 [0.5–2.8 ]
Pelizzo et al. [16]	2001	29	8/21	44 [21–86]	100	1.8 [0.5–4]
Chow et al. [23]	2004	15	3/12	54 median [26–71]	100	–
Fukui et al. [24]	2001	22	3/19	53	100	1.3
Dzodic et al. [15]	2006	40	10/30	42 [23–57]	100	1.5 [median]
Sahin et al. [25]	2001	13	–	[30–49]	39	–
Stoeckli et al. [10]	2003	10	2/8	50 [20–74]	67	–
Pelizzo et al. [17]	2006	41	12/29	40 [21–68]	98	1.24 [0.5–3 ]
Carcoforo et al. [14]	2007	64	7/57	50	92	0.87