title: Diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG-PET in patients with testicular cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) is a new technique for identifying different malignant tumors using different uptake values between tumor cells and normal tissues. Here we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG-PET in patients with testicular cancer by pooling data of existing trials in a meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Trials databases were searched and studies published in English relating to the diagnostic value of FDG-PET for testicular cancer were collected. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was used to examine the FDG-PET accuracy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 16 studies which included 957 examinations in 807 patients (median age, 31.1 years) were analyzed. A meta-analysis was performed to combine the sensitivity and specificity and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), from diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR). SROC were derived to demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET for testicular cancer. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70-0.80) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.89), respectively. The pooled DOR was 35.6 (95% CI, 12.9-98.3). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.88. The pooled PLR and pooled NLR were 7.80 (95% CI, 3.73-16.3) and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.43), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with testicular cancer, 18F-FDG-PET demonstrated a high SROC area, and could be a potentially useful tool if combined with other imaging methods such as MRI and CT. Nevertheless, the literature focusing on the use of 18F-FDG-PET in this setting still remains limited.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China E-mail : mxlmax@163.com, Liuleihx@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jing-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xue-Lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yan-Yan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bing-Lan
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Min-Min
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xue-Lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D018239:Seminoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18