Transrectal sonoelastography in the detection of prostate cancers: a meta‐analysis

UNLABELLED: What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? The accuracy of transrectal sonoelastography (TRSE) in the detection of prostate cancer is variable, with a sensitivity ranging from 51.1 to 91.7% and specificity ranging from 62.2 to 86.8%. This is the first meta-analysis to assess the overall accuracy of TRSE in the detection of prostate cancer. OBJECTIVE: • To assess the overall accuracy of transrectal sonoelastography (TRSE) targeted biopsy in the diagnosis of patients suspected of having prostate cancer (PCa). METHODS: • A systematic search of electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase and The Cochrane Library, and manual bibliography searches were performed. • All relevant studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of TRSE in PCa detection were included in our meta-analysis. • The data were pooled and sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), positive likelihood ratio (LR) and negative LR were calculated. RESULTS: • Pooled patient data analysis: the pooled (95% confidential intervals [95% CI]) sensitivity of TRSE targeted biopsy in patients suspected of having PCa was 62 (55-68) %; specificity was 79% (74-84%); AUC was 0.7696; positive LR was 2.92 (2.28-3.74); and negative LR was 0.49 (0.41-0.59). • Pooled core data analysis: pooled (95% CI) sensitivity, specificity, positive LR and negative LR were 34% (30-38%), 93% (91-95%), 5.07 (3.91-6.57) and 0.71 (0.66-0.75), respectively. CONCLUSION: • Transrectal sonoelastography is a promising technique in PCa detection and can be considered to be a valuable supplemental method to systemic biopsy.