Table 1. Major characteristics of included studies.
| Author | Year | Tp | Fp | Fn | Tn | No. of patients | Country | Mean age | No. of PE | Thicknesses (μm) | Interval (μm) | Reference method | IHC for CK19 | Turnaround time (min) | Excluding TAB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choi YL | 2010 | 28 | 6 | 8 | 157 | 199 | Korea | — | 2 | 1500 to 2000 | 200 | H&E and IHC | No | 35.2 | No |
| Khaddage A | 2011 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 44 | Britain | — | 2 | 1000 | 200 | H&E and IHC | Yes | Less than 37 | Yes |
| Snook KL | 2011 | 44 | 8 | 5 | 137 | 194 | Britain | — | 2 | 3 | 250 | H&E and IHC | Yes | 32 | Yes |
| Le Fre`re-Belda MA | 2012 | 32 | 12 | 3 | 168 | 215 | France | 58 | 2 | — | 200 | H&E and IHC | Yes | 33 | Yes |
| Vegué LB | 2012 | 6 | 23 | 0 | 26 | 55 | Spain | 59 | 1 | 1000 | — | H&E | No | — | No |
| Wang YS | 2012 | 121 | 43 | 17 | 371 | 552 | China | 50 | 1 or 2 | 4 to 6 | 200 | H&E | No | 40 | No |
| Jimbo K | 2013 | 123 | 45 | 43 | 561 | 772 | Japan | 56 | — | 4 | — | H&E | No | — | No |
| Heilmann T | 2013 | 11 | 28 | 2 | 102 | 143 | Germany | 61 | 1 | 1000 | 200 | H&E | No | 34.4 | No |
| Chen JJ | 2013 | 121 | 39 | 17 | 299 | 476 | China | 49 | 4 | — | 150 | H&E | No | 37 | No |
| Bettington M | 2014 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 35 | Australia | — | — | — | 250 | H&E | No | — | No |
| Pathmanathan N | 2014 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 71 | 98 | Australia | 58 | — | — | 150 to 200 | H&E | No | 28 | No |
| Mokhtar M | 2016 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 50 | Japan | 60 | 2 | 2000 | — | H&E | No | Less than 39 | No |
Abbreviations: CK19=cytokeratin 19; Fn=false negative; Fp=false positive; H&E=haematoxylin and eosin staining; IHC=immunohistochemistry; PE=pathological examination; TAB=tissue allocation bias; Tn=true negative; Tp=true positive.