PE (Pulmonary embolism, PE) is a common disease, usually caused by blockage of pulmonary artery and its branches due to exogenous or endogenous embolic obstruction. PE always be misdiagnosed in clinical. The aim of this study is to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing the resectability of PE. In this study, a meta-analysis of the reported sensitivity and specificity of each study with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was performed. Five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results indicated that the quality assessment scores ranged from 11 to 13, with a mean study quality score of 12. The sensitivity and specificity values including 95% CI at the patient level were calculated. The sensitivities ranged from 78% to 100%, and the specificity ranged from 99% to 100%. The pooled sensitivity value including 95% CI was 0.83 (0.78-0.88), and with inconsistency (I (2)) of 62.8%. The pooled specificity value including 95% CI was 0.99 (0.98-1.00), with inconsistency (I(2)) of 0.0%. Pooled positive likelihood ratio (PLR) (95% CI) was 70.22 (29.04-169.76), and the pooled negative likelihood ratio (NLR) (95% CI) was 0.19 (0.14-0.25). The overall diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) (95% CI) was 448.98 (163.47-1233.18). The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) data illustrated that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.9852. In conclusion, the MRI method may be acts as a potential and assistant method for the PE diagnosis.
Keywords: Pulmonary embolism; diagnosis; magnetic resonance imaging; meta-analysis.