Diagnostic performance and prognostic value of elastography in patients with biliary atresia and after hepatic portoenterostomy: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Biliary atresia (BA) is a life-threatening disease with persistent neonatal cholestasis and progressive liver fibrosis. Timely non-invasive diagnosis of BA can result in early hepatic portoenterostomy (HPE) and better prognosis. Quantitative elastography enables the non-invasive measurement of liver stiffness. However, the studies on elastography methods in the diagnosis of BA and the prediction of post-HPE outcomes vary in their results and have small sample sizes. Thus, we propose this systematic review and meta-analysis to obtain comprehensive evidence on the value of elastography in BA. Methods and analysis We will search the PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of elastography in patients with BA and the prognostic value of postoperative elastography, from inception to 31 December 2020. We plan to use the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 list and the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool to assess the risk of bias in the included studies and the study quality. We will evaluate the diagnostic performance of elastography by synthesising the pooled sensitivity, pooled specificity, pooled positive likelihood ratio, pooled negative likelihood ratio, pooled diagnostic OR and summary receiver operating characteristic curve using Meta-Disc V.1.4. We will evaluate the predictive value of elastography after HPE by synthesising the pooled correlation coefficient and pooled OR of prognostic outcomes using STATA V.14. The funnel plot and Egger's test will be used to evaluate the potential publication bias. Sensitivity analysis will be conducted by examining the estimated effects of individual studies. Ethics and dissemination As this study is a meta-analysis based on previously published literature, ethical approval is not necessary according to the ethics committee of West China Hospital, Sichuan University. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020162055.

Automated summary

This study aims to systematically review and meta-analyze the value of elastography in the diagnosis of biliary atresia and the prognostic value of postoperative elastography. The comprehensive evidence obtained from this study will contribute to better understanding of the role of elastography in managing BA patients.