Meta-analysis of the reliability of noninvasive carotid studies

The author examined those published studies of the consistency (homogeneity) of study outcomes of noninvasive tests that assess the degree of carotid artery disease. Noninvasive tests used to detect carotid artery disease include ocular pneumoplethysmography and duplex ultrasound pulsed Doppler spectral analysis with high-resolution B-mode scan. This meta-analysis showed that all authors had reached essentially the same conclusion: 1) one of these noninvasive tests may be sufficient to determine the clinical management of carotid artery disease, and 2) when two tests are concordant, the test degree of certainty is greatly improved, with anatomic and physiologic information that often matches or surpasses that afforded by the more invasive percutaneous carotid arteriography.