Diagnostic Accuracy of SuperSonic Shear Imaging for Staging of Liver Fibrosis: A Meta-analysis

The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of SuperSonic shear imaging (SuperSonic Imagine SA, Aix-en-Provence, France) for diagnosis of liver fibrosis. Literature databases were searched to identify relevant studies from inception to February 28, 2015. Sensitivity, specificity, and other information were extracted from the studies. Pooled data were calculated by a bivariate mixed-effects binary regression model. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Publication bias was tested by funnel plots. Twelve studies were included in this meta-analysis and reported on 1635 patients. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.78 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69-0.85) and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.75-0.99), respectively, for fibrosis stages F≥1, 0.84 (95% CI, 0.81-0.86) and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.74-0.87) for F≥2, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.85-0.93) and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.77-0.89) for F≥3, and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.82-0.91) and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.81-0.90) for F=4. The areas under the summary receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.90) for F≥1, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.81-0.88) for F≥2, 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91-0.95) for F≥3, and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.90-0.95) for F=4. No significant publication bias was found. SuperSonic shear imaging could be used for staging of liver fibrosis. Especially, it has high diagnostic accuracy for severe fibrosis and cirrhosis.