Screening Performance Characteristic of Ultrasonography and Radiography in Detection of Pleural Effusion; a Meta-Analysis

Introduction: the role of ultrasonography in detection of pleural effusion has long been a subject of interest but controversial results have been reported. accordingly, this study aims to conduct a systematic review of the avail-able literature on diagnostic value of ultrasonography and radiography in detection of pleural effusion through a meta-analytic approach. methods: an extended search was done in databases of medline, embase, isi web of knowledge, scopus, cochrane library, and proquest. two reviewers independently extracted the data and as-sessed the quality of the articles. meta-analysis was performed using a mixed-effects binary regression model. finally, subgroup analysis was carried out in order to find the sources of heterogeneity between the included studies. results: 12 studies were included in this meta-analysis (1554 subjects, 58.6% male). pooled sensitivity of ultrasonography in detection of pleural effusion was 0.94 (95% ci: 0.88-0.97; i2= 84.23, p<0.001) and its pooled specificity was calculated to be 0.98 (95% ci: 0.92-1.0; i2= 88.65, p<0.001), while sensitivity and specific-ity of chest radiography were 0.51 (95% ci: 0.33-0.68; i2= 91.76, p<0.001) and 0.91 (95% ci: 0.68-0.98; i2= 92.86, p<0.001), respectively. sensitivity of ultrasonography was found to be higher when the procedure was car-ried out by an intensivist or a radiologist using 5-10 mhz transducers. conclusion: chest ultrasonography, as a screening tool, has a higher diagnostic accuracy in identification of plural effusion compared to radiography. the sensitivity of this imaging modality was found to be higher when performed by a radiologist or an intensivist and using 5-10mhz probes.