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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Front. Med.</journal-id>
<journal-title>Frontiers in Medicine</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Front. Med.</abbrev-journal-title>
<issn pub-type="epub">2296-858X</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>Frontiers Media S.A.</publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3389/fmed.2024.1391621</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
<subject>Medicine</subject>
<subj-group>
<subject>Systematic Review</subject>
</subj-group>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>The diagnostic performance of the one-step nucleic acid amplification assay for the detection of sentinel lymph node metastases in cytokeratin 19-positive breast cancer: a PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Liu</surname> <given-names>Meirong</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/conceptualization/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/investigation/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/writing-original-draft/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/writing-review-editing/"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Weihua</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/data-curation/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/project-administration/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/resources/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/writing-original-draft/"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Yufang</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3"><sup>3</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c001"><sup>&#x0002A;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/2666495/overview"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/conceptualization/"/>
<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/formal-analysis/"/>
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<role content-type="https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles/supervision/"/>
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</contrib-group>
<aff id="aff1"><sup>1</sup><institution>Department of Oncology, Liaocheng People&#x00027;s Hospital, Liaocheng</institution>, <addr-line>Shandong</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff2"><sup>2</sup><institution>Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People&#x00027;s Hospital, Liaocheng</institution>, <addr-line>Shandong</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff3"><sup>3</sup><institution>Department of Radiotherapy, Liaocheng People&#x00027;s Hospital, Liaocheng</institution>, <addr-line>Shandong</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<author-notes>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Edited by: Daniel Matias Regiart, University of S&#x000E3;o Paulo, Brazil</p></fn>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Reviewed by: Zheng Wang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China</p>
<p>Fenglin Dong, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China</p>
<p>Gang Sun, Xinjiang Cancer Center/Key Laboratory of Oncology of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China</p></fn>
<corresp id="c001">&#x0002A;Correspondence: Yufang Wang <email>wyf20121231&#x00040;163.com</email></corresp>
</author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>09</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2024</year>
</pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="collection">
<year>2024</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>11</volume>
<elocation-id>1391621</elocation-id>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>26</day>
<month>02</month>
<year>2024</year>
</date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>20</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2024</year>
</date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright &#x000A9; 2024 Liu, Wang and Wang.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2024</copyright-year>
<copyright-holder>Liu, Wang and Wang</copyright-holder>
<license xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.</p></license>
</permissions>
<abstract>
<sec>
<title>Background</title>
<p>The status of the sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) is an important prognostic factor for many different types of cancer. The one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay has emerged as a rapid intraoperative molecular diagnostic tool for LN metastasis detection. We aimed to evaluate and summarize the value of the OSNA assay for the diagnosis of SLN metastasis in cytokeratin 19 (CK19)-positive breast cancer.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Methods</title>
<p>To evaluate the diagnostic value, the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) were pooled. The threshold effect, followed by subgroup analysis, was performed to explore the source of heterogeneity. A sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the stability of this meta-analysis model. Fagan plots and likelihood ratio scattergrams were used to explore the potential clinical significance.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Results</title>
<p>A total of 29 eligible studies, which consisted of 5,331 patients with 10,343 SLNs, were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 0.86 (95% CI: 0.85&#x02013;0.88), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.94&#x02013;0.95), 18.00 (95% CI, 13.54&#x02013;23.92), 0.13 (95% CI, 0.10&#x02013;0.17), and 138.99 (95% CI, 86.66&#x02013;222.92), respectively. The AUC was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95&#x02013;0.98). Sensitivity analysis showed that four studies had an impact on the pooled results and mainly contributed to the heterogeneity. Fagan&#x00027;s nomogram revealed that the prior probability was 50%, the post-probability positive was 95%, and the post-probability negative was 11%.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Discussion</title>
<p>Our results suggested that OSNA can predict the occurrence of SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer. However, more well-designed and multicenter diagnostic tests are needed to validate our results.</p></sec></abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd>OSNA</kwd>
<kwd>CK19</kwd>
<kwd>breast cancer</kwd>
<kwd>sentinel lymph nodes</kwd>
<kwd>metastasis</kwd>
<kwd>meta-analysis</kwd>
</kwd-group>
<counts>
<fig-count count="7"/>
<table-count count="2"/>
<equation-count count="0"/>
<ref-count count="52"/>
<page-count count="12"/>
<word-count count="6389"/>
</counts>
<custom-meta-wrap>
<custom-meta>
<meta-name>section-at-acceptance</meta-name>
<meta-value>Precision Medicine</meta-value>
</custom-meta>
</custom-meta-wrap>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body>
<sec sec-type="intro" id="s1">
<title>1 Introduction</title>
<p>Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide and is a leading cause of death for women in their 40&#x00027;s (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">1</xref>). Approximately one-third of patients with primary breast cancer eventually develop distant metastases and succumb to the disease (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">2</xref>). The spread of tumor cells to SLNs is still an important prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer and a key criterion for determining individual treatment plans. The nodal status quantifies the number, locations, or size of involved LNs with metastases in clinical tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging of breast cancer patients (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">2</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">3</xref>). A SLN biopsy is the standard procedure used to accurately stage axillary nodal involvement in early-stage breast cancer patients without clinical evidence of node metastasis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">4</xref>). During SLN biopsy, a reliable intraoperative examination of SLN plays an important role in the decision-making process, which may help in selecting a surgical procedure or conservative treatment of the axilla in a single procedure (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>). Intraoperative hematoxylin and eosin (H&#x00026;E) pathological examinations of the frozen section (FS) or imprint cytology are recommended (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">6</xref>). However, all these methods have some drawbacks, such as inaccuracy and long required time, and do not offer timely intraoperative SLN evaluation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a more efficient method for intraoperative detection of SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer.</p>
<p>The OSNA assay has emerged as a rapid intraoperative molecular diagnostic tool for lymph node metastasis (LNM) detection (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">7</xref>). It is a standardized and observer-independent molecular technique that can detect tumor-specific CK19 mRNA and is widely used in hospitals (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">8</xref>). CK19, a member of the keratin family, is widely used as an epithelial marker in clinical applications and has been used as a useful tool in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of tumors (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">9</xref>). CK19 is one of the main cytoskeleton proteins in epithelial cells, which is released as a full-length protein by viable epithelial tumor cells and is associated with metastatic progression in cancer patients (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">10</xref>). To date, numerous preliminary and multicenter clinical studies have confirmed that the OSNA assay can be applied to evaluate LNM in various cancers expressing CK19, such as breast cancer, cervical and endometrial cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer, and colorectal cancer (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">8</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">11</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>). The comparative studies between OSNA and pathological evaluation for detecting LNM in breast cancer showed that OSNA has high specificity (94.8%), a high concordant rate (93.8%), and a negative predictive value (97.6%) in a pooled assessment (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>). Similar results have been found in multicenter studies for gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>). The OSNA assay is a quick and semiautomatic procedure and can be completed in &#x0007E;40 min, making it suitable as an intraoperative procedure for the detection of LNM (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>). Importantly, the OSNA assay is more objective, sensitive, and accurate compared with routine histopathological examination (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">16</xref>). To date, many studies have focused on the diagnostic value of the OSNA assay for SLN detection in breast cancer, but the results are still uncertain. The expected drawbacks of the OSNA method are the false-negative results caused by unstable CK19 expression.</p>
<p>To the best of our knowledge, although some studies have performed intraoperative evaluation for SLN metastases using the OSNA assay in invasive breast cancer patients, there is no systematic review or meta-analysis about the value of the OSNA assay in breast cancer diagnosis. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate and summarize the value of the OSNA assay for the diagnosis of SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer patients.</p></sec>
<sec sec-type="materials and methods" id="s2">
<title>2 Materials and methods</title>
<sec>
<title>2.1 Literature search strategy</title>
<p>We conducted this meta-analysis according to the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to identify all potential literature, with a search period up to 1 September 2023. In addition, we supplemented the manual search to find relevant literature. The search strategy was performed by two investigators independently. Quality studies were needed to provide information on the diagnostic accuracy of OSNA for SLN metastasis in patients with breast cancer. Subject terms used for the literature search included &#x0201C;molecular intraoperative&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;intraoperative molecular analysis&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;intraoperative nucleic acid amplification&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;one step nucleic acid amplification&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;one-step nucleic acid amplification&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;OSNA&#x0201D; combined with &#x0201C;breast cancer&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;breast neoplasm&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;breast carcinoma&#x0201D; or &#x0201C;breast tumor.&#x0201D; No further ethical approval is required since the program does not require the recruitment of patients or the collection of personal information. The review of this meta-analysis has not been registered with PROSPERO or INPLASY.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>2.2 Literature selection criteria</title>
<p>All articles were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria by two independent reviewers (Meirong Liu and Weihua Wang). Disagreements were adjudicated by the third reviewer (Yufang Wang). The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer; (2) the specimens collected were fresh SLNs; (3) the study&#x00027;s purpose was to investigate the performance of the OSNA assay for detecting SLN metastasis in breast cancer patients; (4) the reference method for detecting SLN metastasis was postoperative pathology; (5) the study adopted identical machines and thresholds recommended by the OSNA manufacturer, Sysmex company; (6) the method of pathological examination was described in detail; (7) the study analysis was based on per node; and (8) extracted data were available for obtaining true-positive (TP), false-positive (FP), false-negative (FN), and true-negative (TN) values. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) non-English articles; (2) non-clinical research literature, including basic experiments, reviews, conference abstracts, and letters to journal editors; and (3) intraoperative pathologies, such as FS or touch imprint cytology (TIC) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">17</xref>).</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>2.3 Data extraction and quality assessment</title>
<p>Two researchers extracted the information and assessed the quality of the included studies. The data extracted included the details on the first author, year of publication, country, type of study design, number of patients, number of LNs, number of study centers, section interval, reference standard method, and type of samples. Diagnostic accuracy estimates included TP, TN, FPs, and FN. The quality of the diagnostic studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">18</xref>). Different opinions will be settled through group consultation.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>2.4 Statistical analyses</title>
<p>All analyses were performed with STATA 16.0, RevMan 5.2, and Meta-Disc 1.4 software (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>). Heterogeneity was assessed using Higgin&#x00027;s <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> and Cochran&#x00027;s Q tests. <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> &#x0003E; 50% was considered a significant heterogeneity (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">20</xref>). Subgroup analyses were performed to uncover the source of heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess the stability of the model. The diagnostic accuracy of OSNA for SLN metastasis was quantified by the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), summary DOR, summary sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and their 95% confidence interval (CI). Deeks&#x00027; funnel plot was conducted to assess publication bias (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>). To explore the potential clinical significance, the Fagan plot was drawn to reveal the relevance between pre-test probability, post-test probability, and likelihood ratio. Moreover, we generated a likelihood ratio scattergram, which showed the different diagnostic values of OSNA for SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer patients. All statistical tests were two-sided, and a <italic>P</italic>-value of &#x0003C; 0.05 was considered significant unless otherwise indicated.</p></sec>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="results" id="s3">
<title>3 Results</title>
<sec>
<title>3.1 Literature search</title>
<p>An initial literature search yielded 576 potential articles from three databases. After excluding duplicate publications, 235 studies remained. After browsing the titles and abstracts, studies were also excluded because 134 articles were not related to the topic, 27 articles only focused on the non-SLNs, and 24 articles were not clinical studies. Then, the 47 remaining studies were further evaluated through full-text reading. A total of 18 articles were further excluded due to insufficient data for diagnostic testing. Finally, 29 articles involving 5,331 patients were included in the meta-analysis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">23</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B48">48</xref>). The flow chart of the literature screening process is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F1">Figure 1</xref>.</p>
<fig id="F1" position="float">
<label>Figure 1</label>
<caption><p>Flow chart of literature screening.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0001.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.2 Characteristics of the included studies</title>
<p>The basic characteristics of the 29 included studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">23</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B47">47</xref>) are shown in <xref ref-type="table" rid="T1">Table 1</xref>. Our study consisted of 5,331 patients with 10,343 SLNs. The literature was published from 2008 to 2023; 15 literature articles (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">7</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">11</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">30</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">31</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B35">35</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B37">37</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B42">42</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B44">44</xref>) were conducted in Asian countries, 11 trials (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">20</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">23</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">25</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">27</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B32">32</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">34</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B43">43</xref>) were conducted in Europe, two trials (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">33</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B36">36</xref>) were conducted in Oceania, and one study (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">24</xref>) was conducted in America. The reference standards of all studies were assessed by postoperative pathology, but the detailed approaches were different because 21 studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">7</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">11</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">31</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B36">36</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B38">38</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B40">40</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B41">41</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B43">43</xref>) were taken with serial sections with HE staining and IHC and seven studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">30</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B37">37</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B39">39</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B42">42</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B44">44</xref>) were taken with serial sections with HE staining only.</p>
<table-wrap position="float" id="T1">
<label>Table 1</label>
<caption><p>Basic characteristics of all eligible studies in this meta-analysis.</p></caption>
<table frame="box" rules="all">
<thead>
<tr style="background-color:#919498;color:#ffffff">
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>References</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Country</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Reference method</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>No. patients</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>No. SLNs</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>TP</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>FP</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>FN</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>TN</bold></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Banerjee et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B36">36</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">UK</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">170</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">268</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">39</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">2</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">217</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Bernet et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Spain</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">185</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">181</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">42</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">138</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Bettington et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B37">37</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Australia</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">35</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">63</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">9</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">52</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Buglioni et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">33</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Italy</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">709</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">903</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">174</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">28</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">14</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">687</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Chaudhry et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B38">38</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">UK</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">54</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">166</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">13</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">17</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">135</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Feldman et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">America</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">496</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1,044</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">107</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">38</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">31</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">868</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Goda et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B48">48</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">65</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">312</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">53</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">8</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">241</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Hao et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B43">43</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">102</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">175</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">39</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">13</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">9</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">113</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Inua et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">UK</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">691</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">684</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">44</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">58</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">572</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Jara-Lazaro et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B39">39</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Singapore</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">54</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">98</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">15</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">5</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">75</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Khaddage et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">27</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">France</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">46</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">80</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">15</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">2</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">62</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Le Fr&#x000E8;re-Belda et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">31</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">France</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">234</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">503</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">51</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">27</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">12</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">413</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Li et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">115</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">311</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">30</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">9</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">6</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">266</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Osako et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">34</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">80</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">307</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">53</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">20</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">7</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">222</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Pathmanathan et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B40">40</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Australia</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">NA</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">98</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">170</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">25</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">5</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">137</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Pina et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B47">47</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">France</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">197</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">197</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">30</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">44</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">113</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Sagara et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B35">35</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">53</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">61</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">9</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">48</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Schem et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">24</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Germany</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">93</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">343</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">105</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">25</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">209</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Shigematsu et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B45">45</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">499</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1,103</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">104</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">26</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">30</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">943</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Shimazu et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B46">46</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">63</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">150</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">63</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">83</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Snook et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">UK</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">194</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">395</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">66</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">6</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">313</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Sun et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">30</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">90</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">189</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">32</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">149</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Takamoto et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B44">44</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">88</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">300</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">18</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">8</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">6</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">83</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Tamaki et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">25</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">198</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">574</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">89</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">25</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">11</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">449</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Terada et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B41">41</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">89</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">111</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">10</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">14</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">94</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Tsujimoto et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Japan</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">49</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">81</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">14</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">2</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">64</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Visser et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">23</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Netherlands</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">32</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">346</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">61</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">15</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">267</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Wang et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B32">32</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">552</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1,188</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">159</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">71</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">31</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">927</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Wang et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B42">42</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Singapore</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">HE and IHC</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">NA</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">40</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">19</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">20</td>
</tr></tbody>
</table>
<table-wrap-foot>
<p>No., Number of; SLN, sentinel lymph nodes; HE, hematoxylin and eosin; IHC, immunohistochemistry; TP, true positive; TN, true negative; FP, false positive; FN, false negative; NA, not available.</p>
</table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.3 Quality assessment</title>
<p>QUADAS-2 was used to assess the quality of the included literature (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>). In the assessment of the index test, three studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">25</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">31</xref>) were found to have a high risk of bias, and the remainder had an unclear or low risk of bias. With regard to the flow and timing domain, five studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">30</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">33</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B43">43</xref>) were high risk and the rest were unclear or low risk. This is mainly related to the unclear implementation of literature blinding and reporting of thresholds and loss to follow-up. In the remaining two QUADAS-2 domains, namely, patient selection and reference standard, most studies were found to be of unclear or low risk. Regarding applicability concerns, only one study (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B38">38</xref>) showed high risk in &#x0201C;patient selection&#x0201D; and no high risk in the &#x0201C;index test&#x0201D; or the &#x0201C;reference standard.&#x0201D; Overall, the quality of the studies included in this review was indicated to be acceptable.</p>
<fig id="F2" position="float">
<label>Figure 2</label>
<caption><p>The methodological quality of individual studies.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0002.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4 Diagnostic accuracy of OSNA for SLNs in breast cancer</title>
<sec>
<title>3.4.1 Sensitivity and specificity</title>
<p>The pooled sensitivity and specificity of OSNA to diagnose SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer were 0.86 (95% CI from 0.85 to 0.88) and 0.94 (95% CI from 0.94 to 0.95), respectively (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">Figures 3A</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">B</xref>). Cochran <italic>Q</italic> and <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup>-tests were conducted to assess heterogeneity, which indicated significant heterogeneity (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 73.6%, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001) and specificity (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 85.2%, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001). Thus, a random effect model was used.</p>
<fig id="F3" position="float">
<label>Figure 3</label>
<caption><p>Forest plot of the sensitivity <bold>(A)</bold>, specificity <bold>(B)</bold>, and SROC curve <bold>(C)</bold> of OSNA for SLN metastasis in breast cancer. SROC, summary receiver operating characteristic; AUC, area under the curve; OSNA, one-step nucleic acid amplification; SLNs, sentinel lymph nodes.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0003.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4.2 Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve analysis</title>
<p>An SROC curve analysis was performed, and the AUC of the SROC curve was calculated to be 0.9708 (95% CI from 0.95 to 0.98; <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">Figure 3C</xref>). This indicates the high diagnostic value of SLN metastasis for CK19-positive breast cancer.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4.3 Positive and negative likelihood ratios (PLR and NLR)</title>
<p>Owing to significant heterogeneity in PLR (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 85.30%, 95% CI from 85.30 to 91.89, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001) and NLR (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 81.07%, 95% CI from 74.75 to 87.38, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001), meta-analyses were performed using a random-effects model. The pooled PLR and NLR of the studies were 18.00 (95% CI from 13.54 to 23.92) and 0.13 (95% CI from 0.10 to 0.17), respectively (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">Figures 4A</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">B</xref>).</p>
<fig id="F4" position="float">
<label>Figure 4</label>
<caption><p>Forest plot of the PLR <bold>(A)</bold>, NLR <bold>(B)</bold>, DS <bold>(C)</bold>, and DOR <bold>(D)</bold> of OSNA for SLN metastasis in breast cancer. PLR, positive likelihood ratio; NLR, negative likelihood ratio; DS, diagnostic score; DOR, summary diagnostic odds ratio; OSNA, one-step nucleic acid amplification; SLNs, sentinel lymph nodes.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0004.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4.4 Diagnostic score (DS) and odds ratio (DOR)</title>
<p>As there was significant heterogeneity in DS (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 77.13%, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001) and DOR (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 100.00%, <italic>P</italic> &#x0003C; 0.001), a meta-analysis of DS and DOR was conducted using a random-effects model. The overall pooled DS and DOR of the studies were 4.93 (95% CI: 4.46&#x02013;5.41) and 138.99 (95% CI: 86.66&#x02013;222.92), respectively (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">Figures 4C</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">D</xref>).</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4.5 Sensitivity analysis</title>
<p>Sensitivity analysis showed a good fit for goodness of fit and binary normality (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F5">Figures 5A</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F5">B</xref>). There were four articles weighted (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F5">Figure 5C</xref>), which may be a source of heterogeneity shown by outlier detection (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F5">Figure 5D</xref>). After the exclusion of abnormal studies, the pooled specificity varied from 0.94 to 0.95; the sensitivity, AUC value, and NLR remained unchanged; the DLR decreased slightly from 18.26 to 18.00, and the DS and DOR decreased from 4.93 to 4.91 and 138.99 to 135.57, respectively. These data suggested that the re-analysis was slightly different compared with the combined results before exclusion which indicates that the conclusions of this study are robust.</p>
<fig id="F5" position="float">
<label>Figure 5</label>
<caption><p>Sensitivity analysis results of the included studies. <bold>(A)</bold> Goodness of fit, <bold>(B)</bold> bivariate normality, <bold>(C)</bold> influence analysis, and <bold>(D)</bold> outlier detection.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0005.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.4.6 Risk of publication bias</title>
<p>Deek&#x00027;s funnel chart was used to analyze any potential publication bias. As shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F6">Figure 6</xref>, the funnel chart was symmetric, and <italic>P</italic> = 0.64 suggested that no significant publication bias existed in this meta-analysis (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F6">Figure 6</xref>).</p>
<fig id="F6" position="float">
<label>Figure 6</label>
<caption><p>Deeks&#x00027; funnel plot for assessing the publication bias.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0006.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.5 Subgroup analysis</title>
<p>We also conducted subgroup analysis to explore the sources of heterogeneity among different populations, different numbers of included patients, and whether it was conducted in multiple centers. As shown in <xref ref-type="table" rid="T2">Table 2</xref>, our analysis showed that these variables did not have a significant impact on the pooled analysis.</p>
<table-wrap position="float" id="T2">
<label>Table 2</label>
<caption><p>Subgroup analysis of diagnostic accuracies of the OSNA assay in breast cancer based on a per-node analysis.</p></caption>
<table frame="box" rules="all">
<thead>
<tr style="background-color:#919498;color:#ffffff">
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Subgroups</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>No. studies</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>No. patients</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>No. nodes</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Sensitivity (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Specificity (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>PLR (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>NLR (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>DOR (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>AUC (95% CI)</bold></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr style="background-color:#dee1e1">
<td valign="top" align="left" colspan="10"><bold>Ethnic origins</bold></td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Caucasian</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">14</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3,234</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">5,000</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">08.9 (0.86&#x02013;0.91)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.94 (0.93&#x02013;0.94)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15.27 (9.74&#x02013;23.95)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.11 (0.08&#x02013;0.18)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">147.99 (72.19&#x02013;303.36)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.97 (0.96&#x02013;0.99)</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Asian</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2,097</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">5,343</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.84 (0.81&#x02013;0.86)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.95 (0.94&#x02013;0.96)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">16.68 (12.47&#x02013;22.31)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.17 (0.12&#x02013;0.25)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">100.36 (66.97&#x02013;151.20)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.97 (0.95&#x02013;0.98)</td>
</tr> <tr style="background-color:#dee1e1">
<td valign="top" align="left" colspan="10"><bold>Patient number</bold></td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003C; 100</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">989</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2,777</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.89 (0.86&#x02013;0.91)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.94 (0.93&#x02013;0.95)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15.45 (11.34&#x02013;21.04)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.13 (0.07&#x02013;0.23)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">144.48 (85.31&#x02013;244.69)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.97 (0.96&#x02013;0.98)</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;100</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">14</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">4,342</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7,566</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.85 (0.83&#x02013;0.87)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.94 (0.94&#x02013;0.95)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15.79 (10.40&#x02013;23.98)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.16 (0.12&#x02013;0.21)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">103.38 (59.49&#x02013;179.66)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.96 (0.94&#x02013;0.98)</td>
</tr> <tr style="background-color:#dee1e1">
<td valign="top" align="left" colspan="10"><bold>Center number</bold></td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Single center</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">18</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1,457</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3,535</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.85 (0.83&#x02013;0.87)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.94 (0.94&#x02013;0.95)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">16.14 (10.97&#x02013;23.75)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.15 (0.11&#x02013;0.22)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">113.17 (66.89&#x02013;191.48)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.96 (0.94&#x02013;0.98)</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Multicenter</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">11</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3,920</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">6,888</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.88 (0.85&#x02013;0.90)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.95 (0.94&#x02013;0.96)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">15.72 (11.24&#x02013;22.00)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.13 (0.09&#x02013;0.20)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">143.13 (76.12&#x02013;269.13)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">0.98 (0.96&#x02013;0.99)</td>
</tr></tbody>
</table>
<table-wrap-foot>
<p>No., number of; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; PLR, positive likelihood ratio; NLR, negative likelihood ratio; DOR, diagnostic odds ratio; AUC, the area under the summaryreceiver-operating characteristic curve.</p>
</table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>3.6 Clinical diagnostic value</title>
<p>Fagan&#x00027;s nomogram (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F7">Figure 7A</xref>) showed a prior probability of 50%. The post-probability positive and post-probability negative were 95 and 11%, respectively. Furthermore, the likelihood ratio scattergram (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F7">Figure 7B</xref>) showed the different clinical significances of SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer. On the upper left quadrant, PLR was &#x0003E;10 and NLR was &#x0003C; 0.1, which indicated that these markers could be used to make an exclusion or confirmation diagnosis. On the upper right quadrant, PLR was &#x0003E;10 and NLR was &#x0003E;0.1, which indicated that these markers could be used to make a confirmation diagnosis only. On the lower right quadrant, PLR was &#x0003C; 10 and NLR was &#x0003E;0.1, which indicated that these markers were not able to be used to make an exclusion or confirmation diagnosis.</p>
<fig id="F7" position="float">
<label>Figure 7</label>
<caption><p>Diagnostic value of OSNA for SLN metastasis in breast cancer. <bold>(A)</bold> Fagan&#x00027;s nomogram evaluates the clinical diagnostic value of OSNA for SLN metastasis in breast cancer. <bold>(B)</bold> The likelihood ratio scattergram shows the different clinical significances of OSNA for SLN metastasis in breast cancer. OSNA, one-step nucleic acid amplification; SLNs, sentinel lymph nodes.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmed-11-1391621-g0007.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="discussion" id="s4">
<title>4 Discussion</title>
<p>The formation of distant LNM is the most lethal step in cancer progression and affects surgical decision-making, which is an important prognostic indicator in various cancer types (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B49">49</xref>). Traditional intraoperative SLN detection methods, including FS and TIC, are limited due to their low sensitivity and lack of standardized methods. An SLN biopsy combined with an intraoperative molecular-based detection of SLN metastasis using the OSNA assay provides a more standardized, objective, and reproducible whole-node assessment than the traditional pathological examination methods in breast cancer patients (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">16</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B50">50</xref>). The OSNA assay can more effectively detect micrometastasis, reducing the number of false-negative histological examinations caused by the small size of micrometastases, which may not be included in any microscopical section (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>). It can also avoid sampling errors and second operations due to false-negative results, thereby expediting the progression to adjuvant treatment (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B38">38</xref>). In particular, it succeeded in significantly reducing the surgical time from a mean operation length of 70.1 &#x000B1; 10.5 min in the case of the FS to a mean operation length of 42.1 &#x000B1; 5.1 min using OSNA (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>). Therefore, it can reduce breast cancer patient healthcare costs and, correspondingly, ease the economic burden on patients. These advantages contribute to OSNA detection becoming a routine intraoperative SLN detection method during breast cancer surgery.</p>
<p>Although the sensitivity and specificity of the OSNA assay have been described, no pooled analysis has been conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of SLN metastases in breast cancer patients. In this study, we attempted to conduct a meta-analysis to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the OSNA assay in detecting SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer patients.</p>
<p>A total of 29 studies, consisting of 5,331 patients with 10,343 SLNs, were included in this study. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of the OSNA assay were 0.86, 0.94, and 0.9708, respectively, which indicated a relatively preferable diagnostic value. A previous meta-analysis based on intraoperative FS or TIC for SLNs showed that their pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.78 and 1.00 (FS) and 0.74 and 0.98 (TIC), respectively (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B51">51</xref>). These results have also been validated by Yang et al., indicating that compared to traditional pathological examination methods, the OSNA assay seems to have better performance (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B52">52</xref>). In addition, our analysis results show that the overall diagnostic accuracy of OSNA for all cases was 0.9708. According to previous reports, the overall diagnostic accuracy of the TS and TIC detection methods was 0.9857 and 0.9837, respectively, which indicated no significant difference compared to OSNA (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B51">51</xref>). Given these potential benefits derived from the OSNA assay, the OSNA assay appears to be a useful tool in assessing SLN metastasis in CK19-positive breast cancer patients.</p>
<p>We also conducted subgroup analysis to explore the sources of heterogeneity among different subgroups, such as ethnic origins, patient numbers, and center numbers. There is no significant difference between different subgroups, indicating that these variables did not have a significant impact on the pooled analysis. Therefore, the OSNA assay might be quite a stable method for diagnosing SLN metastases in breast cancer. A sensitivity analysis was also performed in this study. After removing four weighted articles, the pooled specificity varied from 0.94 to 0.95, and the sensitivity, AUC value, and NLR remained unchanged. The conclusions of this study have been confirmed to be robust.</p>
<p>Despite our efforts to perform a systematic and comprehensive meta-analysis, there are still some limitations to our study. First, some of the included literature did not provide detailed descriptions of information, such as trial randomization, blind design, and quality control, which may affect the quality of this study. Second, the incidence and medical level were different among different countries and regions, which could affect the accuracy of the diagnosis and thus affect the results of this analysis. Third, heterogeneity among included trials is still an essential issue in this study. Moreover, this meta-analysis mainly focused on the diagnostic value of OSNA, and its prognostic value could be evaluated in future studies. Thus, the diagnostic performance and application of the OSNA assay in clinical practice still need a lot of research.</p>
<p>In summary, this meta-analysis provides evidence that the OSNA assay is a convenient, reliable, and standardized method for the intraoperative detection of SLN metastases in CK19-positive breast cancer patients. It provides satisfactory results in a short time, and with an easy procedure, its clinical application can benefit patients by minimizing the need for second surgeries for SLN detection.</p></sec>
</body>
<back>
<sec sec-type="data-availability" id="s5">
<title>Data availability statement</title>
<p>The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="author-contributions" id="s6">
<title>Author contributions</title>
<p>ML: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing &#x02013; original draft, Writing &#x02013; review &#x00026; editing. WW: Data curation, Project administration, Resources, Writing &#x02013; original draft. YW: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Writing &#x02013; original draft, Writing &#x02013; review &#x00026; editing.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="funding-information" id="s7">
<title>Funding</title>
<p>The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="COI-statement" id="conf1">
<title>Conflict of interest</title>
<p>The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="disclaimer" id="s8">
<title>Publisher&#x00027;s note</title>
<p>All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.</p>
</sec>
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