Methods
Searchstrategy
and selection criteria
We performed and reported this systematic review and meta-analysis in
accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy (PRISMA-DTA) guideline. The
study protocol was registered with PROSPERO, number
CRD42019130044.
We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane
Library, Wanfang Data and
China
National Knowledge Infrastructure (from inception to July 30, 2019) for
studies on SLNB with FSE in cervical cancer. The full search strategy
was provided in supplementary (p4). No publication date or language
restrictions were applied. We manually searched the references of all
resulting publications to identify any studies
possible
missed by the initial search. Besides, we contacted experts in this
field with questionnaires for possible unpublished data (supplementary
p4–6).
The
population
of interest was women with cervical cancer
initially
managed by surgery involving a SLNB procedure combined with FSE. Studies
containing these individuals were potentially eligible for review. There
were no restrictions for the
study
purpose or design, methods for SLN detection, or surgical approaches.
For qualitative and quantitative synthesis, we included only studies
reporting the results of FSE and definitive pathological examination
(DPE). Besides, we excluded studies
in which the sample size was less than ten, no metastatic case was
found, or FSE were selectively performed. In addition,
we
checked the repetition between studies from the same institution. If two
or more studies were found to had irremovable overlaps in studied
population, only the most recent study reporting adequate information
was included while others were excluded.