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Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine 2024Carcinoid heart disease (CHD), a complication of carcinoid syndrome (CS), is a rare condition that can lead to right sided valvular heart disease and has been...
INTRODUCTION
Carcinoid heart disease (CHD), a complication of carcinoid syndrome (CS), is a rare condition that can lead to right sided valvular heart disease and has been traditionally associated with a poor prognosis. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the accuracy of biomarkers and echocardiography in diagnosing CHD amongst patients who are already known to have neuroendocrine tumours and to assess whether surgical management of CHD leads to a reduction in mortality.
METHODS
A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, EBM Reviews, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted. All studies on patients with carcinoid heart disease (CHD) reporting on biomarkers, echocardiographic and surgical outcomes were included. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute quality assessment tool was used to assess the methodological study quality. Data analysis was performed using Stata Statistical Software and R Studio, and individual meta-analyses were performed for biomarkers, echocardiographic findings, and surgical outcomes.
RESULTS
A total of 36 articles were included in the systematic review analysis. N terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) and 5-hydroxyindole acetate (5-HIAA) levels were higher in patients with CHD compared with those without CHD. 32% of CS patients had echocardiographic evidence of cardiac involvement, of which 79% involved tricuspid valve abnormalities. Moderate-severe tricuspid regurgitation was the most common echocardiographic abnormality (70% of patients). However, these analyses had substantial heterogeneity due to the high variability of cardiac involvement across studies. Pooled surgical mortality for CHD was 11% at 1 month, 31% at 12 months and 56% at 24 months. When assessing surgical outcomes longitudinally, the one-month surgical results showed a trend towards more recent surgeries having lower mortality rates than those reported in earlier years, however this was not statistically significant.
DISCUSSION
There is not enough data in current literature to determine a clear cut-off value of NTproBNP and 5-HIAA to help diagnose or determine CHD severity. Surgical management of CHD is yet to show significant mortality benefit, and there are no consistent comparisons to medical treatment in current literature.
PubMed: 38572311
DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1353612 -
Diseases of the Esophagus : Official... Nov 2023Early detection of esophageal cancer is limited by accurate endoscopic diagnosis of subtle macroscopic lesions. Endoscopic interpretation is subject to expertise,... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Early detection of esophageal cancer is limited by accurate endoscopic diagnosis of subtle macroscopic lesions. Endoscopic interpretation is subject to expertise, diagnostic skill, and thus human error. Artificial intelligence (AI) in endoscopy is increasingly bridging this gap. This systematic review and meta-analysis consolidate the evidence on the use of AI in the endoscopic diagnosis of esophageal cancer. The systematic review was carried out using Pubmed, MEDLINE and Ovid EMBASE databases and articles on the role of AI in the endoscopic diagnosis of esophageal cancer management were included. A meta-analysis was also performed. Fourteen studies (1590 patients) assessed the use of AI in endoscopic diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 91.2% (84.3-95.2%) and 80% (64.3-89.9%). Nine studies (478 patients) assessed AI capabilities of diagnosing esophageal adenocarcinoma with the pooled sensitivity and specificity of 93.1% (86.8-96.4) and 86.9% (81.7-90.7). The remaining studies formed the qualitative summary. AI technology, as an adjunct to endoscopy, can assist in accurate, early detection of esophageal malignancy. It has shown superior results to endoscopists alone in identifying early cancer and assessing depth of tumor invasion, with the added benefit of not requiring a specialized skill set. Despite promising results, the application in real-time endoscopy is limited, and further multicenter trials are required to accurately assess its use in routine practice.
Topics: Humans; Esophageal Neoplasms; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Artificial Intelligence; Endoscopy; Adenocarcinoma
PubMed: 37480192
DOI: 10.1093/dote/doad048 -
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology :... Dec 2024The diagnosis of endometriomas in patients with endometriosis is of primary importance because it influences the management and prognosis of infertility and pain.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
INTRODUCTION
The diagnosis of endometriomas in patients with endometriosis is of primary importance because it influences the management and prognosis of infertility and pain. Imaging techniques are evolving constantly. This study aimed to systematically assess the diagnostic accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detecting endometrioma using the surgical visualisation of lesions with or without histopathological confirmation as reference standards in patients of reproductive age with suspected endometriosis.
METHODS
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched from their inception to 12 October 2022, using a manual search for additional articles. Two authors independently performed title, abstract and full-text screening of the identified records, extracted study details and quantitative data and assessed the quality of the studies using the 'Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Study 2' tool. Bivariate random-effects models were used to determine the pooled sensitivity and specificity, compare the two imaging modalities and evaluate the sources of heterogeneity.
RESULTS
Sixteen prospective studies (10 assessing TVUS, 4 assessing MRI and 2 assessing both TVUS and MRI) were included, representing 1976 participants. Pooled TVUS and MRI sensitivities for endometrioma were 0.89 (95% confidence interval 'CI', 0.86-0.92) and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.74-0.99), respectively (indirect comparison -value of 0.47). Pooled TVUS and MRI specificities for endometrioma were 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92-0.97) and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.89-0.97), respectively (indirect comparison p-value of 0.51). These studies had a high or unclear risk of bias. A direct comparison (all participants undergoing TVUS and MRI) of the modalities was available in only two studies.
CONCLUSION
TVUS and MRI have high accuracy for diagnosing endometriomas; however, high-quality studies comparing the two modalities are lacking.
Topics: Female; Humans; Endometriosis; Prospective Studies; Ultrasonography; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Sensitivity and Specificity; Diagnostic Tests, Routine
PubMed: 38348799
DOI: 10.1080/01443615.2024.2311664 -
European Respiratory Review : An... Apr 2024Despite the importance of gait as a determinant of falls, disability and mortality in older people, understanding of gait impairment in COPD is limited. This study aimed... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Despite the importance of gait as a determinant of falls, disability and mortality in older people, understanding of gait impairment in COPD is limited. This study aimed to identify differences in gait characteristics during supervised walking tests between people with COPD and healthy controls.
METHODS
We searched 11 electronic databases, supplemented by Google Scholar searches and manual collation of references, in November 2019 and updated the search in July 2021. Record screening and information extraction were performed independently by one reviewer and checked for accuracy by a second. Meta-analyses were performed in studies not considered at a high risk of bias.
RESULTS
Searches yielded 21 085 unique records, of which 25 were included in the systematic review (including 1015 people with COPD and 2229 healthy controls). Gait speed was assessed in 17 studies (usual speed: 12; fast speed: three; both speeds: two), step length in nine, step duration in seven, cadence in six, and step width in five. Five studies were considered at a high risk of bias. Low-quality evidence indicated that people with COPD walk more slowly than healthy controls at their usual speed (mean difference (MD) -19 cm·s, 95% CI -28 to -11 cm·s) and at a fast speed (MD -30 cm·s, 95% CI -47 to -13 cm·s). Alterations in other gait characteristics were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
Low-quality evidence shows that people with COPD walk more slowly than healthy controls, which could contribute to an increased falls risk. The evidence for alterations in spatial and temporal components of gait was inconclusive. Gait impairment appears to be an important but understudied area in COPD.
Topics: Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Humans; Gait; Male; Aged; Female; Case-Control Studies; Walk Test; Walking Speed; Middle Aged; Gait Analysis; Lung
PubMed: 38657998
DOI: 10.1183/16000617.0253-2023 -
American Journal of Obstetrics &... Aug 2023This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess clinical characteristics related to pathologically proven placenta accreta spectrum without placenta previa. (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
OBJECTIVE
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess clinical characteristics related to pathologically proven placenta accreta spectrum without placenta previa.
DATA SOURCES
A literature search of PubMed, the Cochrane database, and Web of Science was performed from inception to September 7, 2022.
STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
The primary outcomes were invasive placenta (including increta or percreta), blood loss, hysterectomy, and antenatal diagnosis. In addition, maternal age, assisted reproductive technology, previous cesarean delivery, and previous uterine procedures were investigated as potential risk factors. The inclusion criteria were studies evaluating the clinical presentation of pathologically diagnosed PAS without placenta previa.
METHODS
Study screening was conducted after duplicates were identified and removed. The quality of each study and the publication bias were assessed. Forest plots and I statistics were calculated for each study outcome for each group. The main analysis was a random-effects analysis.
RESULTS
Among 2598 studies that were initially retrieved, 5 were included in the review. With the exception of 1 study, 4 studies were included in the meta-analysis. This meta-analysis showed that placenta accreta spectrum without placenta previa was associated with less risk of invasive placenta (odds ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.16-0.37), blood loss (mean difference, -1.19; 95% confidence interval, -2.09 to -0.28) and hysterectomy (odds ratio, 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.53), and more difficult to diagnose prenatally (odds ratio, 0.13; 95% confidence interval, 0.04-0.45) than placenta accreta spectrum with placenta previa. In addition, assisted reproductive technology and a previous uterine procedure were strong risk factors for placenta accreta spectrum without placenta previa, whhereas previous cesarean delivery was a strong risk factor for placenta accreta spectrum with placenta previa.
CONCLUSION
The differences in clinical aspects of placenta accreta spectrum with and without placenta previa need to be understood.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Placenta Accreta; Retrospective Studies; Placenta Previa; Hysterectomy; Risk Factors
PubMed: 37211089
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2023.101027 -
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine... Dec 2023Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is a progressive protein misfolding disease with frequent cardiac involvement. This review aims to determine the value of PET in... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is a progressive protein misfolding disease with frequent cardiac involvement. This review aims to determine the value of PET in diagnosis, assessment of disease progression or treatment response and its relation to clinical outcome in follow-up of ATTR amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) patients.
METHODS
Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched, from the earliest date available until December 2022, for studies investigating the use of PET in ATTR-CM patients. Studies containing original data were included, except for case reports. Risk of bias was assessed by QUADAS-2.
RESULTS
Twenty-one studies were included in this systematic review, investigating five different tracers: carbon-11 Pittsburgh compound B ([C]PIB), fluorine-18 Florbetaben ([F]FBB), fluorine-18 Florbetapir ([F]FBP), fluorine-18 Flutemetamol ([F]FMM) and fluorine-18 Sodium Fluoride (Na[F]F). In total 211 ATTR amyloidosis patients were included. A majority of studies concluded that [C]PIB, [F]FBP and Na[F]F can distinguish ATTR amyloidosis patients from controls, and that [C]PIB and Na[F]F, but not [F]FBP, can distinguish ATTR-CM patients from patients with cardiac light chain amyloidosis. Evidence on the performance of [F]FBB and [F]FMM was contradictory. No studies on the use of PET in follow-up were found.
CONCLUSION
[C]PIB, Na[F]F and [F]FBP can be used to diagnose cardiac amyloidosis, although [F]FBP may not be suitable for the distinction of different types of amyloid cardiomyopathy. No studies on PET in the follow-up of ATTR amyloidosis patients were found. Future research should focus on the use of these PET tracers in the follow-up of ATTR amyloidosis patients.
Topics: Humans; Prealbumin; Follow-Up Studies; Amyloidosis; Positron-Emission Tomography; Cardiomyopathies
PubMed: 37561144
DOI: 10.1007/s00259-023-06381-3 -
PeerJ 2023The receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) expression is associated with clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of various cancers; however, the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
The receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) expression is associated with clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of various cancers; however, the conclusions are controversial. As a result, this study aimed to explore the clinicopathological and prognostic values of RACK1 expression in patients with cancer.
METHODOLOGY
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus were comprehensively explored from their inception to April 20, 2023, for selecting studies on the clinicopathological and prognostic role of RACK1 in patients with cancer that met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the prognosis-predictive value of RACK1 expression, while pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were used to evaluate the correlation between RACK1 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with cancer. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
RESULTS
Twenty-two studies (13 on prognosis and 20 on clinicopathological characteristics) were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The findings indicated that high RACK1 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (HR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.13-2.33; = 0.009; I = 89%) and reversely correlated with disease-free survival/recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.22-2.88; = 0.004; I = 0%). Furthermore, increased RACK1 expression was significantly associated with lymphatic invasion/N+ stage (OR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.04-2.90; = 0.04; I = 79%) of tumors.
CONCLUSIONS
RACK1 may be a global predictive marker of poor prognosis in patients with cancer and unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics. However, further clinical studies are required to validate these findings.
Topics: Humans; Disease-Free Survival; Neoplasm Proteins; Neoplasms; Prognosis; Receptors for Activated C Kinase
PubMed: 37601269
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15873 -
Gastroenterology Apr 2024Current international guidelines recommend duodenal biopsies to confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease in adult patients. However, growing evidence suggests that... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND & AIMS
Current international guidelines recommend duodenal biopsies to confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease in adult patients. However, growing evidence suggests that immunoglobulin A (IgA) anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTg) antibody levels ≥10 times the upper limit of normal (ULN) can accurately predict celiac disease, eliminating the need for biopsy. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the accuracy of the no-biopsy approach to confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease in adults.
METHODS
We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from January 1998 to October 2023 for studies reporting the sensitivity and specificity of IgA-tTG ≥10×ULN against duodenal biopsies (Marsh grade ≥2) in adults with suspected celiac disease. We used a bivariate random effects model to calculate the summary estimates of sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were used to calculate the positive predictive value of the no-biopsy approach across different pretest probabilities of celiac disease. The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the QUADAS-2 tool. This study was registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42023398812.
RESULTS
A total of 18 studies comprising 12,103 participants from 15 countries were included. The pooled prevalence of biopsy-proven celiac disease in the included studies was 62% (95% confidence interval [CI], 40%-83%). The proportion of patients with IgA-tTG ≥10×ULN was 32% (95% CI, 24%-40%). The summary sensitivity of IgA-tTG ≥10×ULN was 51% (95% CI, 42%-60%), and the summary specificity was 100% (95% CI, 98%-100%). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.77 - 0.89). The positive predictive value of the no-biopsy approach to identify patients with celiac disease was 65%, 88%, 95%, and 99% if celiac disease prevalence was 1%, 4%, 10%, and 40%, respectively. Between-study heterogeneity was moderate (I =30.3%), and additional sensitivity analyses did not significantly alter our findings. Only 1 study had a low risk of bias across all domains.
CONCLUSION
The results of this meta-analysis suggest that selected adult patients with IgA-tTG ≥10×ULN and a moderate to high pretest probability of celiac disease could be diagnosed without undergoing invasive endoscopy and duodenal biopsy.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Celiac Disease; Transglutaminases; Protein Glutamine gamma Glutamyltransferase 2; Immunoglobulin A; GTP-Binding Proteins; Biopsy; Sensitivity and Specificity; Autoantibodies
PubMed: 38176661
DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2023.12.023 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Jul 2023Tuberculosis (TB) was the leading infectious cause of mortality globally prior to COVID-19 and chest radiography has an important role in the detection, and subsequent... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Tuberculosis (TB) was the leading infectious cause of mortality globally prior to COVID-19 and chest radiography has an important role in the detection, and subsequent diagnosis, of patients with this disease. The conventional experts reading has substantial within- and between-observer variability, indicating poor reliability of human readers. Substantial efforts have been made in utilizing various artificial intelligence-based algorithms to address the limitations of human reading of chest radiographs for diagnosing TB.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to assess the performance of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in the detection of TB using chest radiography (chest x-ray [CXR]).
METHODS
In conducting and reporting the SLR, we followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. A total of 309 records were identified from Scopus, PubMed, and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) databases. We independently screened, reviewed, and assessed all available records and included 47 studies that met the inclusion criteria in this SLR. We also performed the risk of bias assessment using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies version 2 (QUADAS-2) and meta-analysis of 10 included studies that provided confusion matrix results.
RESULTS
Various CXR data sets have been used in the included studies, with 2 of the most popular ones being Montgomery County (n=29) and Shenzhen (n=36) data sets. DL (n=34) was more commonly used than ML (n=7) in the included studies. Most studies used human radiologist's report as the reference standard. Support vector machine (n=5), k-nearest neighbors (n=3), and random forest (n=2) were the most popular ML approaches. Meanwhile, convolutional neural networks were the most commonly used DL techniques, with the 4 most popular applications being ResNet-50 (n=11), VGG-16 (n=8), VGG-19 (n=7), and AlexNet (n=6). Four performance metrics were popularly used, namely, accuracy (n=35), area under the curve (AUC; n=34), sensitivity (n=27), and specificity (n=23). In terms of the performance results, ML showed higher accuracy (mean ~93.71%) and sensitivity (mean ~92.55%), while on average DL models achieved better AUC (mean ~92.12%) and specificity (mean ~91.54%). Based on data from 10 studies that provided confusion matrix results, we estimated the pooled sensitivity and specificity of ML and DL methods to be 0.9857 (95% CI 0.9477-1.00) and 0.9805 (95% CI 0.9255-1.00), respectively. From the risk of bias assessment, 17 studies were regarded as having unclear risks for the reference standard aspect and 6 studies were regarded as having unclear risks for the flow and timing aspect. Only 2 included studies had built applications based on the proposed solutions.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this SLR confirm the high potential of both ML and DL for TB detection using CXR. Future studies need to pay a close attention on 2 aspects of risk of bias, namely, the reference standard and the flow and timing aspects.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
PROSPERO CRD42021277155; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=277155.
Topics: Humans; Artificial Intelligence; COVID-19; Deep Learning; Radiography; Reproducibility of Results; Tuberculosis; X-Rays
PubMed: 37399055
DOI: 10.2196/43154 -
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and... Feb 2024Functional neurological disorder (FND) is characterised by neurological symptoms, such as seizures and abnormal movements. Despite its significance to patients, the...
BACKGROUND
Functional neurological disorder (FND) is characterised by neurological symptoms, such as seizures and abnormal movements. Despite its significance to patients, the clinical features of chronic pain in people with FND, and of FND in people with chronic pain, have not been comprehensively studied.
METHODS
We systematically reviewed PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO for studies of chronic pain in adults with FND and FND in patients with chronic pain. We described the proportions of patients reporting pain, pain rating and timing, pain-related diagnoses and responsiveness to treatment. We performed random effects meta-analyses of the proportions of patients with FND who reported pain or were diagnosed with pain-related disorders.
RESULTS
Seven hundred and fifteen articles were screened and 64 were included in the analysis. Eight case-control studies of 3476 patients described pain symptoms in a higher proportion of patients with FND than controls with other neurological disorders. A random effects model of 30 cohorts found that an estimated 55% (95% CI 46% to 64%) of 4272 patients with FND reported pain. Random effects models estimated diagnoses of complex regional pain syndrome in 22% (95% CI 6% to 39%) of patients, irritable bowel syndrome in 16% (95% CI 9% to 24%) and fibromyalgia in 10% (95% CI 8% to 13%). Five studies of FND diagnoses among 361 patients with chronic pain were identified. Most interventions for FND did not ameliorate pain, even when other symptoms improved.
CONCLUSIONS
Pain symptoms and pain-related diagnoses are common in FND. Classification systems and treatments should routinely consider pain as a comorbidity in patients with FND.
PubMed: 38383157
DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2023-332810