Diagnostic accuracy of MOC-31 for malignant effusions: a meta-analysis

Numerous studies have investigated the utility of MOC-31 in the diagnosis of malignant effusions. However, the results remain controversial. The aim of this study is to determine the overall accuracy of MOC-31 for malignant effusions through a meta-analysis of published studies. Publications addressing the accuracy of MOC-31 in the diagnosis of malignant effusions were selected from the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Data from selected studies were pooled to yield summary sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios (LRs), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve. Statistical analysis was performed by Meta-Disc 1.4 and STATA 12.0 software. Eighteen studies, based on 1,748 patients, met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis, and the summary estimating for MOC-31 in the diagnosis of malignant effusions were sensitivity 0.85 (95%CI 0.83-0.87), specificity 0.97 (95%CI 0.96-0.99), positive likelihood ratio (PLR) 23.81 (95%CI 15.59-36.37), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) 0.12 (95%CI 0.07-0.20), and diagnostic odds ratio 214.18 (95%CI 99.96-458.93). The SROC curve indicated that the maximum joint sensitivity and specificity (Q value) was 0.95; the area under the curve was 0.98. Our findings suggest that MOC-31 may be a useful diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity for differentiating malignant effusions and benign effusions.