Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration（USFNA） in differentiating malignancy and benign lesions of the parotid gland.Methods The diagnostic studies on ultrasonography guided fine-needle aspiration cytology for parotid tumors were searched through Chinese biomedical literature database, Medline and Embase. The methodological quality was assessed with quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies. Two reviewers took part in all of the work in duplicate and any disagreement was resolved by discussion. Meta-analysis was done with MetaDisc 1.4.Results A total of 10 studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed the pooled diagnostic values and its 95% confidence interval（95%CI） in differentiating malignant and benign tumors in the parotid gland as following: Specificity 0.99, 95%CI（0.98, 1.00）; sensitivity 0.86, 95%CI（0.78, 0.91）; positive likelihood ratio 42.39, 95%CI（22.03, 81.57）; negative likelihood ratio 0.20, 95%CI（0.13, 0.29）; the area beneath the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.983 0.Conclusion The ultrasonography guided fine-needle aspiration cytology showed a high specificity and sensitivity in differencing the malignant and benign tumor of the parotid region, which should be used as a routine test before operation.
