title: Differential diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by single-shot echo-planar imaging diffusion-weighted imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the diagnostic ability of single-shot echo-planar imaging (EPI) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to differentiate between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A computerized search was performed on PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE up to August 2014. Nine studies (10 sets of data) with a total of 304 malignant pancreatic lesions and 188 benign pancreatic lesions were included. The characteristics of each study included the study name, year of publication, magnetic resonance modalities used, patient population, strength of field, pulse time, repetition time, echo time (TE), maximum b factor, mean age, mean body weight, fat suppression, number of benign and malignant lesions, and true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative results. All analyses were performed using Meta-DiSc and Stata 11.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pooled sensitivity and specificity of single-shot EPI DWI were 0.83 (95%CI: 0.79-0.87) and 0.77 (95%CI: 0.70-0.83), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 5.09 (95%CI: 2.19-11.84) and 0.23 (95%CI: 0.15-0.36), respectively. The P value for the χ(2) heterogeneity for all pooled estimates was < 0.05. From the fitted summary receiver operating characteristic curve, the area under the curve and Q* index were 0.89 and 0.82, respectively. Publication bias was not present (t = 0.58, P = 0.58). Meta-regression analysis indicated that fat suppression, mean age, TE, and maximum b factor were not sources of heterogeneity (all P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Single-shot EPI DWI is useful to differentiate between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions. Lesion size ≥ 2 cm is the limit for the diagnosis of early lesions.
authors.affiliation: Ben-Zu Hong, Xin-Feng Li, Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Ben-Zu
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Ben-Zu Hong, Xin-Feng Li, Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Ben-Zu Hong, Xin-Feng Li, Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Qing
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D047368:Tumor Burden
keywords: Differential diagnosis; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Meta-analysis; Pancreatic cancer; Single-shot echo-planar imaging