Objective: To systematically review the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography（CEUS） for cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer. Methods: PubMed

Embase

The Cochrane Library

CNKI

Wanfang Data

and VIP were searched for studies on the diagnostic value of CEUS for cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer published up to July 2019. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data; the QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess the risk of bias in included studies; Meta-Disc 1.4 and Stata12.0 were used to perform the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 8 studies involving 871 lymph nodes were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the pooled sensitivity

specificity

positive likelihood ratio

negative likelihood ratio

and diagnostic odds ratio of CEUS in diagnosing cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer were 0.87（95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84 ～ 0.90）

0.89（95% CI: 0.83 ～ 0.93）

8.1（95% CI: 5.1 ～ 12.8）

0.14（95% CI: 0.11 ～ 0.18）

and 57（95% CI: 32 ～ 99）

respectively; the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.88（95% CI: 0.85 ～ 0.91）; the pre-test probability and the post-test probability were 20% and 67%

respectively. Conclusion: CEUS has high value in diagnosing cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.