Faculty Opinions recommendation of Systematic review and pooled estimates for the diagnostic accuracy of serological markers for intestinal ischemia.

Abstract Introduction A number of pre-hospital clinical assessment tools have been developed to triage subjects with acute stroke due to large vessel occlusion (LVO) to a specialised endovascular centre, but their false negative rates remain high leading to inappropriate and costly emergency transfers. Transcranial ultrasonography may represent a valuable pre-hospital tool for selecting patients with LVO who could benefit from rapid transfer to a dedicated centre. Methods Diagnostic accuracy of transcranial ultrasonography in acute stroke was subjected to systematic review. Medline, Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and The Cochrane Library were searched. Published articles reporting diagnostic accuracy of transcranial ultrasonography in comparison to a reference imaging method were selected. Studies reporting estimates of diagnostic accuracy were included in the meta-analysis. Results Twenty-seven published articles were selected for the systematic review. Transcranial Doppler findings, such as absent or diminished blood flow signal in a major cerebral artery and asymmetry index ≥ 21% were shown to be suggestive of LVO. It demonstrated sensitivity ranging from 68 to 100% and specificity of 78–99% for detecting acute steno-occlusive lesions. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.91. Transcranial ultrasonography can also detect haemorrhagic foci, however, its application is largely restricted by lesion location. Conclusions Transcranial ultrasonography might potentially be used for the selection of subjects with acute LVO, to help streamline patient care and allow direct transfer to specialised endovascular centres. It can also assist in detecting haemorrhagic lesions in some cases, however, its applicability here is largely restricted. Additional research should optimize the scanning technique. Further work is required to demonstrate whether this diagnostic approach, possibly combined with clinical assessment, could be used at the pre-hospital stage to justify direct transfer to a regional thrombectomy centre in suitable cases.

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Outpatient urine collection methods for paediatric urinary tract infections: systematic review of diagnostic accuracy studies

Acta Paediatrica ◽

10.1111/apa.16027 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hanne Ann Boon ◽

Wouter Lenaerts ◽

Cedric Van Aerde ◽

Jan Y Verbakel

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Urinary Tract ◽

Diagnostic Accuracy ◽

Urinary Tract Infections ◽

Urine Collection ◽

Tract Infections ◽

Collection Methods

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Diagnostic Role of 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT in Prostate Cancer Staging: A Systematic Review

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics11030552 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 552

Author(s):

Salam Awenat ◽

Arnoldo Piccardo ◽

Patricia Carvoeiras ◽

Giovanni Signore ◽

Luca Giovanella ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prostate Cancer ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Diagnostic Accuracy ◽

Metastatic Disease ◽

Cancer Staging ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Pet Ct

Background: The use of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted agents for staging prostate cancer (PCa) patients using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is increasing worldwide. We performed a systematic review on the role of 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT in PCa staging to provide evidence-based data in this setting. Methods: A comprehensive computer literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases for studies using 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT in PCa staging was performed until 31 December 2020. Eligible articles were selected and relevant information was extracted from the original articles by two authors independently. Results: Eight articles (369 patients) evaluating the role of 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT in PCa staging were selected. These studies were quite heterogeneous, but, overall, they demonstrated a good diagnostic accuracy of 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT in detecting PCa lesions at staging. Overall, higher primary PCa aggressiveness was associated with higher 18F-PSMA-1007 uptake. When compared with other radiological and scintigraphic imaging methods, 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT had superior sensitivity in detecting metastatic disease and the highest inter-reader agreement. 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT showed similar results in terms of diagnostic accuracy for PCa staging compared with PET/CT with other PSMA-targeted tracers. Dual imaging with multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging and 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT may improve staging of primary PCa. Notably, 18F-PSMA-1007-PET/CT may detect metastatic disease in a significant number of patients with negative standard imaging. Conclusions: 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT demonstrated a good accuracy in PCa staging, with similar results compared with other PSMA-targeted radiopharmaceuticals. This method could substitute bone scintigraphy and conventional abdominal imaging for PCa staging. Prospective multicentric studies are needed to confirm these findings.

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