Evaluating the accuracy of Raman spectroscopy in differentiating leukemia patients from healthy individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of Raman spectroscopy in distinguishing between patients with leukemia and healthy individuals. Method: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CNKI databases were searched for relevant articles published from inception of the respective database to November 1, 2023. The pooled sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), were calculated along with their corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI). A summary comprehensive receiver operating characteristic curve (SROC) was constructed and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. The degree of heterogeneity was tested and analyzed. Results: Fifteen groups of original studies from 13 articles were included. The pooled SEN and SPE were 0.93 (95 % CI, [0.92 –0.93]) and 0.91(95 % CI, [0.90–0.92]), respectively. The DOR was 613.01 (95 %CI, [270.79–1387.75]), and the AUC was 0.99. The Deeks’ funnel plot asymmetry test indicated no significant publication bias among the included studies (bias coefficient, 40.80; P = 0.13 < 0.10). The meta-regression analysis findings indicated that the observed heterogeneity could be attributed to variations in sample categories and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Conclusion: We confirmed that Raman spectroscopy has good accuracy in differentiating patients with leukemia from healthy individuals, and may become a means of leukemia screening in clinical practice. In the case of analysis based on live cells using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) improved diagnostic efficacy was observed.

Keywords

• Leukemia
• Raman spectroscopy
• Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
• Diagnostic efficiency
• Meta-analysis