Abstract

To investigate the potential clinical utility of ultrasound elastography in the diagnosis and management of infants with congenital muscular torticollis. We conducted searches in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane library databases and limited the search time from the database was created in April 2023. Articles were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. RevMan (version5.3) is used for meta-analysis. The study results were presented using either standard mean difference or mean difference as statistical measures to compare the difference between two groups and 95 % confidence intervals for consecutive outcomes. Chi-square test was used to calculate I² to detect the heterogeneity between studies and then appropriate effect models were selected according to I² or p values. Publication offset was evaluated using funnel plots. Of the 5 studies included. The years of publication ranged from 2013 to 2021, with sample sizes ranging from 20 to 120. Ultrasonic measurements of sternocleidomastoid muscle thickness (mean difference was 0.57, 95 % confidence intervals was -0.42-0.72, p<0.001). The A/U ratio of sternocleidomastoid muscle measured by ultrasound was (mean difference was -0.45, 95 % confidence interval was -1.56-0.66, p=0.42). Ultrasound imaging may be a useful adjunct to the evaluation of B ultrasound in sternocleidomastoid muscle infants. However, further high quality clinical trial studies are needed to obtain stronger clinical evidence.