Clinicopathological significance of Ki67 expression in colorectal cancer: A protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This study will investigate the diagnostic accuracy of Ki67 expression in colorectal cancer (CC). METHODS: A comprehensive search in electronic bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) will be performed from inception to the February 29, 2020 with no restrictions to the language and publication status. Two authors will examine the collected studies, extract essential data, and appraise study quality separately. If possible, we will estimate receiver operating characteristic (ROC), sensitivity and specificity by utilizing bivariate random effects and hierarchical summary ROC models. RESULTS: This study will summarize present evidence to explore the diagnostic accuracy of Ki67 expression in CC. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study will clarify the diagnostic accuracy of Ki67 expression in CC. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: INPLASY202030009.