Quantitative liver surface nodularity score based on imaging for assessment of early cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver disease: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Early stage of cirrhosis is of great value in the diagnosis and management in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Recent studies have shown that quantitative liver surface nodularity (LSN) score based on imaging techniques can be used to predict the early cirrhosis stage noninvasively, with varied diagnostic accuracy and limited sample size. Hence, this study will evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of LSN in the prediction of early cirrhosis. Methods We will conduct a comprehensive search in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Chinese biomedical databases to identify eligible studies. The literature screening, data extraction, data analysis, and quality assessment will then be carried out. The summary receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) and pooled sensitivity, specificity will be calculated to summarize the diagnostic performance of LSN using a random-effect model. A meta-regression analysis will be performed to investigate the underlying cause of the heterogeneity. Results This study will evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of LSN score in the identification of early cirrhosis, which may further determine whether this method can be used as an alternative in the assessment of CLD patients. Conclusions This study will help to determine the diagnostic accuracy and summarize the recent evidence on this issue. Study registration INPLASY2020100096.