Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. May 20, 2022; 12(3): 148-163
Published online May 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i3.148
Assessment of diagnostic capacity and decision-making based on the 2015 American Thyroid Association ultrasound classification system
Luis-Mauricio Hurtado-Lopez, Alfredo Carrillo-Muñoz, Felipe-Rafael Zaldivar-Ramirez, Erich Otto Paul Basurto-Kuba, Blanca-Estela Monroy-Lozano
Luis-Mauricio Hurtado-Lopez, Department of Surgery, Thyroid Clinic, Hospital General de Mexico, Mexico City 06720, Mexico
Alfredo Carrillo-Muñoz, Felipe-Rafael Zaldivar-Ramirez, Erich Otto Paul Basurto-Kuba, Blanca-Estela Monroy-Lozano, Thyroid Clinic, General Surgery Service, Hospital General de Mexico, Mexico 06726, Mexico
Author contributions: Hurtado-López LM contributed to conceptualization; and all authors contributed in methodology, investigation, original drafting, and final approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Luis-Mauricio Hurtado-Lopez, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Thyroid Clinic, Hospital General de Mexico, Dr. Balmis 148, Doctores, Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City 06720, Mexico. hurtado@clinicadetiroides.com.mx
Received: December 22, 2021
Peer-review started: December 22, 2021
First decision: February 8, 2022
Revised: February 27, 2022
Accepted: April 24, 2022
Article in press: April 24, 2022
Published online: May 20, 2022
Processing time: 147 Days and 2.3 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

It is important to make clinical decisions with the best evidence available, but the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) Ultrasound (US) Guide does not yet have sufficient evidence. Therefore it should be studied and evaluated whether or not it is useful in making clinical decisions during the initial evaluation of thyroid nodules.

Research motivation

The real diagnostic value and its usefulness in clinical decision-making of the ATA 2015 US guide should be known.

Research objectives

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of the American Thyroid Association US system for the initial assessment of thyroid nodules.

Research methods

A meta-analysis study of the diagnostic value of the ATA 2015 ultrasonographic patterns was carried out and this diagnostic value was used to evaluate, through threshold and decision curve analysis, whether it is useful in decision-making during the initial evaluation of thyroid nodules.

Research results

The results showed that the US guided studies had no diagnostic value for decision-making in selecting which nodule should undergo or not FNAB.

Research conclusions

Physicians should continue doing FNAB to all solid or mixed thyroid nodules.

Research perspectives

An alternative diagnostic method must continue to be sought, which resolves the question of which nodule should undergo and which not FNAB.