ReviewFrontiers in oncology2026
Diagnostic value of calcitonin for lateral cervical lymph node metastasis in medullary thyroid carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Frontiers in oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of preoperative serum calcitonin (Ctn) in detecting lateral cervical lymph node metastasis (LLNM) in patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), identify the optimal threshold, and provide evidence for individualized neck dissection strategies. Methods: Relevant Chinese and English databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP, were systematically searched. Eight studies meeting the inclusion criteria, comprising a total of 951 patients, were selected. The QUADAS-2 tool was employed to assess the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was conducted using R software, comparing preoperative Ctn levels between LLNM and non-LLNM groups, with subgroup analyses performed according to different cut-off values. Results: Preoperative Ctn levels were significantly higher in the LLNM group compared to the non-LLNM group (SMD = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.50-1.49). At a cut-off value of ≥300 pg/mL, the pooled sensitivity was 0.90, specificity 0.62, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) 13.48. At a cut-off of 200 pg/mL, sensitivity was 0.83 and specificity 0.42. The differences in specificity and DOR between the two cut-off groups were statistically significant. The pooled area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was 0.894. Conclusion: Preoperative serum Ctn demonstrates excellent predictive performance for LLNM in MTC. A threshold of ≥300 pg/mL serves as an ideal cut-off, providing a reliable, non-invasive indicator to guide "risk-oriented" individualized neck dissection and supplementing the limitations of conventional imaging in detecting micro-metastases.
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