Objective: To evaluate the accuracy and value of high-frequency ultrasound for breast cancer screening in Asian women.
Methods: Published studies on high-frequency ultrasound for screening breast cancer in Asian women were systemically searched and assessed by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tool. Meta-DiSc 1.4 software was used for extracting data, calculating the summary sensitivity and specificity, and drawing the Summary Receiver Operating Characteristic (SROC) curve. Furthermore, the proportion of screening of diagnosis on early breast cancer (TNM stage 0, I and II) by high-frequency ultrasound was calculated.
Results: Seven screening studies including 22 244 women were selected for Meta-analysis. According to the QUADAS items, 5 studies were classified as A degree and 2 studies were evaluated as B degree. For study in the heterogeneous of these 7 studies (Q = 38.97, P < 0.0001), Random Effects Model (REM) was selected. The combined sensitivity (95%CI) and specificity (95%CI) were 0.785 (0.726 - 0.837) and 0.975 (0.973 - 0.977) respectively. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) of SROC was 0.9800. Among the follow-up studies of following period over one year, 96.9% of the diagnosed patients with breast cancer were at clinical stage II or prior to it.
Conclusion: Because of its high accuracy, high-frequency ultrasound could be recommended for screening breast cancer in Asian women.