title: Comparison of whole body positron emission tomography (PET)/PET-computed tomography and conventional anatomic imaging for detecting distant malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to compare the accuracy of whole body positron emission tomography (PET)/PET-computed tomography (CT) and conventional anatomic imaging for detecting distant malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Meta-Analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a meta-analysis of all available studies. We compared the performance of whole body PET/PET-CT with that of conventional anatomic imaging by analyzing studies that had also used conventional anatomic imaging on the same patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across eight studies (1,147 patients), sensitivity and specificity of PET/PET-CT were 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76-0.88) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.97), respectively, and for conventional anatomic imaging were 0.44 (95% CI, 0.29-0.61) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.88-0.98), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that PET/PET-CT had higher sensitivity than conventional anatomic imaging for nasopharyngeal cancer (0.82 vs. 0.30) and non-nasopharyngeal head and neck cancer (0.85 vs. 0.62).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with conventional anatomic imaging, whole body PET/PET-CT has excellent diagnostic performance for detecting distant malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer.
authors: Evidence-based Medical Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
authors: Guozeng
authors: G
authors: Xu
authors: Junkai
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: Xiaoyan
authors: X
authors: Zuo
authors: Chunyan
authors: C
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods