Meta-analysis finds TSP-9 test predicts progression to HGD/EAC in Barrett's esophagus

GOALS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published clinical validity studies was conducted to evaluate the predictive performance of the TSP-9 test. BACKGROUND: Identifying patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) who will progress to high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is challenging. The tissue systems pathology (TSP-9) test can predict risk of progression to HGD/EAC in BE patients. STUDY: Databases were searched for studies that assessed the clinical validity of TSP-9, and data describing progressors, non-progressors, TSP-9 results, and hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted. Odds ratios (OR), sensitivity, specificity, and prevalence-adjusted positive and negative predictive values (PPV adj /NPV adj ) were calculated and used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: Six studies met eligibility criteria, comprising 699 patients. ORs and HRs for TSP-9 had mean common effect size estimates of 6.52 (95% CI: 4.40-9.66, P <0.0001, I2 =33%) and 6.66 (95% CI: 4.59-9.66, P <0.0001, I2 =0%), respectively, for predicting progression to HGD/EAC. Mean common effect size estimates were 61% (95% CI: 54%-68%) for sensitivity, 81% (95% CI: 78%-84%) for specificity, 28% (95% CI: 17%-42%) for PPV adj (high risk), 14% (95% CI: 9%-21%) for PPV adj (high/int risk), and 97% (95% CI: 96%-98%) for NPV adj with minimal inter-study heterogeneity ( I2 =79%, 21%, 0%, 0%, and 0%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Effect estimates of TSP-9 performance demonstrate that the test provides risk stratification for BE patients. The TSP-9 test can provide clinically impactful results to enable escalation of care for high-risk patients or to identify low-risk patients who can be safely managed with routine surveillance.