title: Prognostic significance of (18)FDG PET/CT in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The role of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography CT ((18)FDG PET/CT), as a prognostic factor for survival in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases, is still controversial. We sought to perform a meta-analysis of the literature to address this issue.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic literature search was performed to identify the studies that associated (18)FDG PET/CT to clinical survival outcomes of patients with liver metastases. Methodological qualities of the included studies were also assessed. The summarized hazard ratio (HR) was estimated by using fixed- or random-effect model according to heterogeneity between trails.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By analyzing a total of 867 patients from 15 studies, we found that PET/CT for metabolic response to the therapy was capable of predicting event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) with statistical significance, and the HR was 0.45 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-0.78) and 0.36 (95% CI, 0.18-0.71), respectively. Furthermore, pre-treatment (18)FDG PET/CT with high standardized uptake value (SUV) was also significantly associated with poorer OS HR, 1.24; (95% CI, 1.06-1.45). However, we did not find a statistically significant effect of post-treatment SUV for predicting OS HR, 1.68; (95% CI, 0.63-4.52).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present meta-analysis confirms that (18)FDG PET/CT is a useful tool to help predict survival outcomes in patients with liver metastases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.160, Pu Jian road, Shanghai, 200127, China. kara_xia@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.160, Pu Jian road, Shanghai, 200127, China. nuclearj@163.com.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, Second Military Medical University, No. 800, Xiang Yin road, Shanghai, 200433, China. wucheng_wu@126.com.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.160, Pu Jian road, Shanghai, 200127, China. shaoli-song@163.com.
authors.forename: Shaoli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.160, Pu Jian road, Shanghai, 200127, China.
authors.forename: Linjun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.160, Pu Jian road, Shanghai, 200127, China. tong1531@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. yuanbo.feng@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Yuanbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. yansheng.jiang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yansheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. yewei.liu@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Yewei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. yicheng.ni@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Yicheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18