Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Sep 20, 2022; 12(5): 448-458
Published online Sep 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i5.448
Microvessel density in differentiated thyroid carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Konstantinos Perivoliotis, Athina A Samara, Prodromos Koutoukoglou, Panagiotis Ntellas, Katerina Dadouli, Sotirios Sotiriou, Maria Ioannou, Konstantinos Tepetes
Konstantinos Perivoliotis, Athina A Samara, Konstantinos Tepetes, Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Greece
Prodromos Koutoukoglou, Katerina Dadouli, Postgraduate Programme Research Methodology in Biomedicine, Biostatistics and Clinical Bioinformatics, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41110, Greece
Panagiotis Ntellas, Maria Ioannou, Department of Pathology, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41100, Greece
Sotirios Sotiriou, Department of Embryology, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41100, Greece
Author contributions: Perivoliotis K, Ntellas P, and Samara AA performed study conception and design; Dadouli K and Koutoukoglou P acquired the data; Perivoliotis K and Ntellas P analyzed and interpreted the data; Perivoliotis K, Ntellas P, and Samara AA drafted the manuscript; Ioannou M, Tepetes K, and Sotiriou S critically revised the manuscript; all authors have approved the final version of the present manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Athina A Samara, MD, MSc, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Larissa, Mezourlo Hill, Larissa 41110, Greece. at.samara93@gmail.com
Received: October 28, 2021
Peer-review started: October 28, 2021
First decision: December 27, 2021
Revised: December 30, 2021
Accepted: July 18, 2022
Article in press: July 18, 2022
Published online: September 20, 2022
Processing time: 323 Days and 1.4 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

An attempt to identify survival-prognostic indicators for thyroid cancer has been implemented

Research motivation

Microvessel density (MVD) has been used as a direct quantification method of tumor neovascularization

Research objectives

This meta-analysis attempted to clarify the effect of tumoral vascularity - through MVD assessment - on the survival of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).

Research methods

The present meta-analysis was based on the PRISMA guidelines and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Research results

Lowly vascularized thyroid cancers had a lower recurrence rate. Moreover, relapsing tumors or malignancies with regional lymph node involvement presented with higher tumoral MVD values.

Research conclusions

MVD significantly correlates with the survival outcomes of DTC patients

Research perspectives

Further prospective studies and randomized controlled trials have to be conducted in order to elucidate the correlation between MVD and prognosis in DTC.