Table 1. Basic information of the included studies.
| Study | Author/year | Country | Study design | Study type | Center | No. of patients | Patient age | Patient sex (male/female) | Years of enrollment | No. of lesions | Lesion size [mm] | No. of HCC lesions | Number of non-HCC malignancies | No. of benign lesions | No. of US systems | Contrast agent | LI-RADS version | Reference standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ding 2021 (12) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 239 | 59.1 [51.1–67.1] | 182/57 | June 2017–Jan 2019 | 273 | 30.7 [10–61] | 225 | 22 (ICC: 12; cHCC-CCA: 8; metastasis: 2) | 26 | Single system | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology |
| 2 | Wang 2020 (13) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 258 | 52 [21–82] | 192/66 | Mar 2015–Nov 2017 | 355 | 25 [6–183] | 115 | 5 (ICC: 2; cHCC-CCA: 1; others: 2) | 235 | Single system | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 3 | Huang 2020 (14) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 172 | 52 [21–78] | 136/36 | Jan 2015–Feb 2018 | 175 | 16 [8–20] | 105 | 3 (ICC: 2; others: 1) | 67 | Single system | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 4 | Makoyeva 2020 (15) | Canada | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 184 | 62 [27–87] | 138/46 | 2008–2016 | 196 | NA | 139 | 18 (ICC: 9; cHCC-CCA: 1; metastasis: 6; others: 2) | 39 | Multiple systems | SonoVue | 2016 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 5 | Zheng 2020 (16) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 1826 | 64 [44–62] | 1642/184 | Jan 2004–Dec 2016 | 2020 | NA | 1514 | 138 (ICC: 57; cHCC-CCA: 24; metastasis: 53; others:4) | 368 | Single system | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 6 | Zhou 2022 (17) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Multi-center | 96 | 58.5 [35–87] | 81/15 | May 2017–Dec 2018 | 96 | 42.7 [9.9–169] | 67 | 22 (NA) | 7 | NA | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology |
| 7 | Kang 2020 (18) | Korea | Cohort | Prospective | Single center | 59 | 65 [49–86] | 47/12 | Feb 2019–Aug 2019 | 59 | 10–50 mm: 52; >50 mm: 7 | 43 | 10 (ICC: 6: cHCC-CCA: 3; others: 1) | 6 | Multiple systems | SonoVue/Sonozoid | 2017 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 8 | Li 2019 (19) | China | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 1366 | 52 [NA] | 1097/269 | Jan 2014–Dec 2017 | 1366 | 35 [5–200] | 985 | 139 (ICC: 59; cHCC-CCA: 14; Metastasis: 62; Others: 4) | 242 | Single system | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology |
| 9 | Chen 2019 (20) | China | Case-control | Retrospective | Single center | 210 | 55 [32–84] | 163/47 | Nov 2003–Dec 2017 | 210 | ≤30 mm: 25; 31–50 mm: 47; >50 mm: 138 | 105 | 105 (ICC: 105) | 0 | Three systems | SonoVue | 2017 | Pathology |
| 10 | Schellhaas 2018 (21) | Germany | Cohort | Retrospective | Single center | 39 | 66 [53–86] | NA | NA | 55 | NA | 48 | 2 (ICC: 2) | 5 | Single system | SonoVue | 2016 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 11 | Terzi 2018 (22) | Italy | Cohort | Retrospective | Multi-center | 848 | 70 [31–89] | 457/391 | Jan 2005–Dec 2015 | 1006 | 20 [5–150] | 820 | 53 (ICC: 40; cHCC-CCA: 9; others: 4) | 133 | Multiple systems | SonoVue | 2016 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
| 12 | Schellhaas 2017 (23) | Germany | Cohort | Prospective | Single center | 100 | 66 [42–85] | 85/15 | NA | 100 | 52.2 [10–290] | 87 | 6 (ICC: 6) | 7 | Three systems | SonoVue | 2016 | Pathology, imaging and follow-up |
HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; US, ultrasound; LI-RADS, liver imaging reporting and data system; NA, not available; ICC, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; cHCC-CCA, combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma.