Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound, CT and their combination in detecting cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

These findings suggest US, with a DOR almost twice that of CT in the neck-level-based analysis, was superior to CT in detecting CLNM in patients with PTC, especially in the lateral compartment. The combination of US and CT increased the sensitivity from 41%-49% for the individual modalities to 64% for combined modalities in the patient-based analysis.