Table 3.
Characteristics of thyroid nodules included.
| First author | Total no. of nodules | Total no. of malignant nodules | Total no. of benign nodules | Median/mean nodule size (range) (cm) | Reference standard | Type of malignant nodule | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgery | Biopsy | PTC | FTC | MTC | Undifferentiated carcinoma | Other | |||||
| Cao 2021 | 388 | 233 (60.1%) | 155 (39.9%) | 1.39 ± 0.85 (0.4–4.8) | Yes | NA | 229 (98.3%) | 1 (1.3%) | 3 (1.3%) | 0 | 0 |
| Fan 2021 | 2213 | 490 (22.1%) | 1723 (77.9%) | 1.1 ± 0.8 | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Gao 2022 | 251 | 132 (52.6%) | 119 (47.4%) | NA | Yes | NA | 126 (95.5%) | 0 | 4 (3.0%) | 1 (0.8%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Li 2021 | 237 | 132 (55.7%) | 105 (44.3%) | 1.42 ± 0.63 (0.3–3.0) | Yes | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Li 2022 | 513 | 206 (40.2%) | 307 (59.8%) | 2.74 ± 1.14 | Yes | NA | 187 (90.8%) | 13 (6.3%) | 2 (1.0%) | 2 (1.0%) | 2 (1.0%) |
| Lin 2021 | 123 | 67 (54.5%) | 56 (45.5%) | 1.29 ± 1.15 (0.2–7.5) | Yes | Yes | 65 (97.0%) | 1 (1.5%) | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.5%) |
| Lin 2022 | 329 | 67 (20.4%) | 262 (79.6%) | 3.6 ± 1.7 | Yes | NA | 0 | 67 (100%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qi 2021 | 1096 | 414 (37.8%) | 682 (62.2%) | 1.9 (0.5–6.4) | Yes | Yes | 384 (92.8%) | 10 (2.4%) | 7 (1.7%) | 6 (1.5%) | 7 (1.7%) |
| Qiao 2021 | 433 | 202 (46.7%) | 231 (53.3%) | 1.13 ± 0.55 | Yes | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Sui 2021 | 92 | 50 (54.3%) | 42 (45.7%) | 1.42 ± 0.98 (0.32–4.1) | Yes | NA | 47 (94.0%) | 1 (2.0%) | 2 (4.0%) | 0 | 0 |
| Wu 2021 | 104 | 66 (63.5%) | 38 (36.5%) | NA | NA | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Zhang 2021 | 434 | 187 (43.1%) | 247 (56.9%) | NA | Yes | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Zhang 2022 | 560 | 370 (66.1%) | 190 (33.9%) | 0.5-5.4 | Yes | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Zheng 2021 | 283 | 211 (74.6%) | 72 (25.4%) | NA | Yes | Yes | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Zhou 2020 | 2,141 | 565 (26.4%) | 1,576 (73.6%) | 2.33 ± 1.43 (0.23–8.60) | Yes | NA | 529 (93.8%) | 14 (2.5%) | 21 (3.7%) | 0 | 0 |
| Zhu 2021 | 2,309 | 891 (38.6%) | 1,418 (61.4%) | 1.31 ± 1.06 (0.02–6.9) | Yes | Yes | 800 (99.1%) | 4 (0.5%) | 2 (0.2%) | 1 (0.1%) | 0 |
| Total | 11,506 | 7,223 | 4,283 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
PTC, papillary thyroid carcinoma; FTC, follicular thyroid carcinoma; MTC, medullary thyroid carcinoma.
NA, not applicable.