Diagnostic accuracy of cardiovascular magnetic resonance for patients with suspected cardiac amyloidosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in cardiac amyloidosis (CA). METHODS: A wide variety of electronic databases were searched for studies of CMR that reported the diagnostic accuracy in patients with suspected CA. Research manuscripts were subjected to further systematic review and meta-analysis. Methodological evaluation was performed under the guidance of the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies −2 (QUADAS–2). Heterogeneity was assessed, and a random-effects model was used to assess the diagnostic effects of CMR on pooled sensitivity, pooled specificity, and summary receiver operating characteristics (SROC). RESULTS: Seven studies that reported the performance of CMR for CA were included in the present systematic review, among which five studies (257 patients) that evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) CMR were analyzed in the present meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was observed only in specificity. A summary sensitivity and specificity of 85 % (95 % CI: 77–91 %) and 92 % (95 % CI: 83–97 %) indicated a high diagnostic accuracy of LGE for CA. The AUC of SROC curve was 0.9530, suggesting that LGE is an effective way of diagnosing patients with possible cardiac involvement in amyloidosis. CONCLUSIONS: LGE–CMR seems to have a relatively high diagnostic accuracy for amyloidosis patients with possible cardiac involvement. Combined CMR techniques may provide important information for the selection of suitable therapy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-016-0311-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.