Diagnostic Value of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography for Biliary Complications in Orthotopic Liver Transplantation: A Meta-analysis

Background and ObjectiveMagnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a noninvasive procedure to diagnose biliary complications. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to establish the overall diagnostic accuracy of MRCP to diagnose biliary complications post–orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).MethodsA systematic review was performed by searching electronic bibliographic databases prior to May 2012. Sensitivity, specificity, and other measures of the accuracy of MRCP for diagnosis of post-OLT were summarized using a random-effects or a fixed-effects model. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to summarize overall test performance.ResultsFourteen studies, which involved 892 subjects were eligible for the analysis. The summary estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under cure of MRCP for diagnosis of biliary complications were as follows: 0.95, 0.92, 10.23, 0.08, 206.59, and 0.979, respectively. The results for biliary strictures in four studies involving 177 subjects were 0.94, 0.95, 0.96, 0.09, 178.33, and 0.973 respectively.ConclusionsMRCP is a sensitive and specific technique to diagnose biliary complications.