Performance of whole-body PET/CT for the detection of distant malignancies in various cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
At present, there is no ideal imaging modality for the diagnosis of distant metastases and second primary cancers in cancer patients. We aimed to assess the accuracy of whole-body PET/CT for the overall assessment of distant malignancies in patients with various cancers.


METHODS
Studies about whole-body PET/CT for the detection of distant malignancies in cancer patients were systematically searched in MEDLINE and EMBASE. We determined sensitivities and specificities across studies, calculated positive and negative likelihood ratios, and constructed summary receiver operating characteristic curves using hierarchical regression models for whole-body PET/CT.


RESULTS
Across 41 studies (4,305 patients), the sensitivity and specificity of whole-body PET/CT were 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-0.96) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.95-0.96), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of whole-body PET/CT for various cancers, respectively, were as follows: head and neck cancer, 0.90 (95% CI, 0.83-0.95) and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.94-0.96); lung cancer, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.76-0.97) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.98); breast cancer, 0.97 (95% CI, 0.93-0.99) and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.90-0.97); and cancer of digestive system, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.68-0.98) and 0.97 (95% CI, 0.91-0.99).


CONCLUSIONS
Whole-body PET/CT has excellent diagnostic performance for the overall assessment of distant malignancies in patients with various cancers, especially head and neck cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer.
Evidence-Based Medical Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, People's Republic of China.
Guozeng
G
Xu
Lin
L
Zhao
Zhiyi
Z
He
D006801:Humans; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*