{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T18:17:03Z","timestamp":1790792223232,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,15]],"date-time":"2023-12-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1702598400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The diagnosis of Crohn\u2019s Disease (CD) is based on a combination of clinical symptoms, laboratory tests, endoscopy, and imaging data. In Small Intestine Contrast Ultrasonography (SICUS), the ingestion of a macrogol solution as an oral contrast medium may optimize image quality. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic performance of SICUS for CD. A literature search was performed in August 2023. We selected only studies where SICUS was compared to a technique that allows the assessment of the whole gastrointestinal tract, such as an MRE, a CT scan, or a surgical evaluation. We estimated pooled weighted sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio for positive and negative tests (PLR\/NLR) of SICUS. Summary receiver operating characteristic curves (SROC) were drawn, and pooled areas under the curve (AUC) were calculated. Five studies with 325 CD patients were included. SICUS showed a pooled sensitivity for the diagnosis of 95% (95% confidence interval CI 89\u201399%), a specificity = 77% (95% CI 60\u201390%), and the AUC was 0.94. SICUS demonstrated a pooled sensitivity for strictures of 78% (95% CI 63\u201388%) and a specificity = 96% (95% CI 85\u201399%), with AUC = 0.93. For abscesses, SICUS demonstrated a pooled sensitivity of 100% (95% CI 59\u2013100%) and a specificity of 90% (95% CI 74\u201398%). Fistulae were detected with a pooled sensitivity of 77% (95% CI 46\u201395%) and a specificity of 92% (95% CI 75\u201399%). SICUS demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance compared to the gold standard despite some clinical scenarios (stenosis\/fistulae) showing suboptimal diagnostic effectiveness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm12247714","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,15]],"date-time":"2023-12-15T11:26:52Z","timestamp":1702639612000},"page":"7714","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Small Intestinal Contrast Ultrasonography (SICUS) in Crohn\u2019s Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7038-3287","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Losurdo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Margherita","family":"De Bellis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raffaella","family":"Rima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiara Maria","family":"Palmisano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Unit \u201cC. Frugoni\u201d, Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Dell\u2019Aquila","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Iannone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7275-5080","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enzo","family":"Ierardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2026-1200","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alfredo","family":"Di Leo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mariabeatrice","family":"Principi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1741","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(16)31711-1","article-title":"Crohn\u2019s disease","volume":"389","author":"Torres","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1093\/ecco-jcc\/jjw168","article-title":"3rd European Evidence-based Consensus on the Diagnosis and Management of Crohn\u2019s Disease 2016: Part 1: Diagnosis and Medical Management","volume":"11","author":"Dignass","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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