MRI versus CT for detecting cartilage invasion in patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To determine and compare the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative conventional MRI and conventional CT for detecting cartilage invasion in patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, who have not previously undergone surgery, using histopathology as the reference standard. Diagnostic accuracy may vary depending on the methodological quality of the study, study population and technical characteristics of the index test and reference test. Therefore, we will assess whether heterogeneity in sensitivity and/or specificity can be related to: methodological quality rating for the four QUADAS-2 domains (low risk of bias versus high risk of bias versus unclear risk of bias); previous radiotherapeutic treatment (yes versus no); sublocation distribution (glottic versus supraglottic versus subglottic versus hypopharyngeal); type of cartilage assessed (thyroid versus cricoid versus arytenoid); T-classification distribution; N-classification distribution; magnetic field strength used (1.5 Tesla versus 3.0 Tesla); slice thickness imaging; slice thickness pathology; diagnostic criteria used/differences in (qualitative) thresholds.