Systematic Review of Ultrasound Diagnostic Accuracy for Senile Calcified Valvular Heart Disease

Objective

To systematically assess the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound for the detection and evaluation of senile calcified valvular heart disease (SCVD).

Methods

Databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang and China Science and Technology Journal Database (CQVIP) were systematically queried for studies pertaining to ultrasound in the diagnosis of SCVD from inception to March 2024. Two independent reviewers conducted literature screening, data extraction, and assessment of bias risk for the included studies. Following eligibility screening, a total of 12 papers were included for data extraction and descriptive analysis. Subsequently, meta-analysis was performed using Stata 16.0 software.

Results

A total of 12 studies were finally included. The pooled sensitivity of ultrasound was 0.95 (95% CI = 0.93–0.97), specificity was 0.96 (95% CI = 0.93–0.97), positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 21.89 (95% CI = 13.27–36.13), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.05 (95% CI = 0.03–0.07) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were 453.19 (95% CI = 236.57–868.16) and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.97–0.99), respectively. Sensitivity analysis was carried out after each study was excluded one by one, and the results showed that pooled sensitivity and specificity had no significant change, indicating that the stability of the meta-analysis results was excellent.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that ultrasound demonstrates high accuracy in diagnosing SCVD, although it does not completely eliminate the possibility of misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. This study systematically assesses the precision of ultrasound in diagnosing SCVD, offering valuable insights for clinical application.