Diagnostic performance of NBI in post-treatment follow up for laryngeal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the performance of narrow-band imaging (NBI) for the post-treatment surveillance of patients with laryngeal cancers and to compare the diagnostic value of NBI with that of white light endoscopy (WLE).

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang Data, and CNKI databases. Study quality and potential bias were assessed by the updated Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool (QUADAS-2). Data analyses were performed with Meta-Disc. Publication bias was assessed by Deek's funnel plot asymmetry test. The protocol used in this article is in accordance with the PRISMA checklist.

RESULTS

Seven studies including 628 lesions were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio for the NBI diagnosis of cancerous lesions were 0.92 (95 % CI: 0.84-0.96), 0.94 (95 % CI: 0.91-0.96), and 142.10 (95 % CI: 61.51-328.28), respectively. The area under receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.97. Among the seven studies, three studies evaluated the diagnostic value of WLE, with a sensitivity of 0.53 (95 % CI: 0.38-0.69), a specificity of 0.94 (95 % CI: 0.90-0.97), and a diagnostic odds ratio of 14.75 (95 % CI: 1.72-126.87). The evaluation of heterogeneity, calculated per the diagnostic odds ratio, gave an I of 0. No marked publication bias (p = 0.75) was found in our meta-analysis.

CONCLUSION

NBI exhibits high diagnostic accuracy in the post-treatment follow-up of laryngeal cancer patients and is superior to that of traditional WLE.