Successful Publication of Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies Evaluating Diagnostic Test Accuracy.

Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Radiology As a research synthesis methodology, systematic review and meta-analysis generates an evidence-based systematic summary of a specific topic by objectively evaluating all relevant primary studies available in the literature. Metaanalysis is a part of the methodology and uses statistical methods to integrate the results of primary research studies. Recently, systematic review and meta-analysis appears to be increasingly used in the field of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies (1). The methods used for systematic review and meta-analysis of DTA studies somewhat differ from those used for therapeutic/interventional studies and are presumably less well known to clinical researchers as the contents are still evolving. Successful publication of a systematic review and meta-analysis of DTA studies would require a sound understanding of the process and methods involved. Through a 2-part conceptual review by Kim et al. (2) and Lee et al. (3) published in the November-December 2015 issue of the Korean Journal of Radiology, we would like to introduce our readers to the currently recommended methodologies used to perform systematic review and metaSuccessful Publication of Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies Evaluating Diagnostic Test Accuracy Chong Hyun Suh, MD , Seong Ho Park, MD, PhD Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, Korea; Department of Radiology, Namwon Medical Center, Namwon 55726, Korea