Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography for the preoperative evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy in living liver donors: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Rationale and objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) when used in the preoperative evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy in living liver donors.

Materials and methods: A computer-assisted literature searching of EMBASE, PubMed (MEDLINE), and the Cochrane library databases was conducted to identify potentially relevant articles which primarily examined the utility of contrast-enhanced MRA in the preoperative evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy in living liver donors. We used the Q statistic of chi-squared value test and inconsistency index (I-squared, I(2)) to estimate the heterogeneity of the data extracted from all selected studies. Meta-Disc software (version 1.4) (ftp://ftp.hrc.es/pub/programas/metadisc/Metadisc_update.htm) was used to perform our analysis.

Results: Eight studies were included in the present meta-analysis. A total of 289 living liver donor candidates and 198 patients who underwent liver harvesting were included in the present study. The pooled sensitivities of hepatic artery (HA), portal vein (PV), and hepatic vein (HV) in this meta-analysis were 0.84, 0.97, and 0.94, respectively. The pooled specificities of HA, PV, and HV were 1.00, 1.00, and 1.00, respectively. The pooled diagnostic odds ratios of HA, PV, and HV were 127.28, 302.80, and 256.59, respectively. The area under the summary receiver-operating characteristic curves of HA, PV, and HV were 0.9917, 0.9960, and 0.9813, respectively.

Conclusions: The high sensitivity and specificity demonstrated in this meta-analysis suggest that contrast-enhanced MRA was a promising test for the preoperative evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy in living liver donors.

Keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging; liver; magnetic resonance angiography; meta-analysis; transplantation.