Table 2.
Characteristics of the included studies.
| Author | Technology | Index of elastography | Threshold value | Reference standard | US equipment and probe | Sen (%) | Spe (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bhatia et al. (27) | SE | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Surgery or biopsy | Philips IU22 and Siemens Acuson Premium Edition; a 5- to 12-MHz linear probe and a 13.5-MHz linear probe | 83 | 47 |
| Dumitriu et al. (28) | SE | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Surgery | EUB 8500, Hitachi; a 6- to 13-MHz linear probe | 72 | 57 |
| Klintworth et al. (18) | SE | Garland sign or not | Garland sign | Surgery | Acuson S2000; a 9-MHz linear probe | 38 | 96 |
| Yerli et al. (29) | SE | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Surgery or biopsy | EUB-7000 ultrasound system; a 5- to 13-MHz linear probe | 75 | 64 |
| Celebi et al. (30) | SE | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Surgery or biopsy | Siemens Acuson S2000 US; a 13-MHz probe | 59 | 61 |
| Badea et al. (19) | SE or ARFI | NR | NR | Surgery | GE 7, GE 8, GE 9, iU22 Phillips, and Siemens S 2000; a 7- to 11-MHz linear probe | 100 | 50 |
| Wierzbicka et al. (21) | SE | 5-point | ≥ 4 | Surgery | AIXPLORER equipment; a Linear SL-15-4 transducer | 40 | 97 |
| Yu et al. (31) | SWE | SWV | 2.76 | Surgery | ACUSON S2000; a 7- to 12-MHz linear probe | 69 | 97 |
| Zhou et al. (32) | VTI (ARFI) | 6-point | ≥ 4 | Surgery or biopsy | Siemens Acuson S2000; a 9L4 linear probe | 63 | 81 |
| Cortcu et al. (33) | SE | Strain ratio | 2.1 | Surgery or biopsy | Aplio XG SSA-790A; a 12-MHz linear probe | 83 | 97 |
| Mansour et al. (20) | SE | 3-point | ≥ 2 | Surgery | Acuson S2000; a 9- to 14-MHz linear probe | 69 | 26 |
| Cantisani et al. (34) | SE | Elasticity contrast index | >3.5 | Surgery or biopsy | ACCUVIX A30, RS 80 A; a 10- to 18-MHz linear probe | 94 | 89 |
| Altinbas et al. (35) | SE | 0-6 | 3 | Biopsy | Logiq S7 Expert machine; a 9L-D linear probe | 70 | 66 |
| Liu et al. (36) | VTQ (ARFI) | SWV | 2.445 m/s | Surgery or biopsy | Siemens Acuson S2000; 14L5 linear probe and curvilinear probe | 80 | 92 |
| Karaman et al. (37) | SE | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Histopathology | Acuson Antares; a 6- to 13-MHz linear probe | 100 | 66 |
| Matsuda et al. (38) | VTI (ARFI) | 4-point | ≥ 3 | Surgery or biopsy | Siemens Acuson S2000; a 4- to 9-MHz or 14-MHz linear probe | 77 | 64 |
SE, strain elasticity; ARFI, acoustic radiation force impulse; VTI, virtual touch imaging; VTQ, virtual touch quantification; NR, not reported; SWV, shear wave velocity; Sen, sensitivity; Spe, specificity.