Diagnostic performance of AI-based models versus physicians among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common primary liver cancer that requires early diagnosis due to its poor prognosis. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have facilitated hepatocellular carcinoma detection using multiple AI models; however, their performance is still uncertain. Aim: This meta-analysis aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of different AI models with that of clinicians in the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: ) and chi-square statistics. Results: We included seven studies in our meta-analysis;. Both physicians and AI-based models scored an average sensitivity of 93%. Great variation in sensitivity, accuracy, and specificity was observed depending on the model and diagnostic technique used. The region-based convolutional neural network (RCNN) model showed high sensitivity (96%). Physicians had the highest specificity in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma(100%); furthermore, models-based convolutional neural networks achieved high sensitivity. Models based on AI-assisted Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) showed poor accuracy (69.9%) compared to physicians and other models. The leave-one-out sensitivity revealed high heterogeneity among studies, which represented true differences among the studies. Conclusion: Models based on Faster R-CNN excel in image classification and data extraction, while both CNN-based models and models combining contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with artificial intelligence (AI) had good sensitivity. Although AI models outperform physicians in diagnosing HCC, they should be utilized as supportive tools to help make more accurate and timely decisions.