title: The role of SISCOM in preoperative evaluation for patients with epilepsy surgery: A meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the specific value of subtraction ictal and inter-ictal SPECT co-registered to MRI (SISCOM) in identifying the epileptogenic zone (EZ) and predicting postoperative outcomes in epileptic surgical patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A meta-analysis of studies published from January 1995 to June 2015 was conducted through a comprehensive literature search, and 11 studies were included. R software was first used to calculate a pooled positive rate, concordant rate and positive predictive value (PPV) for good outcomes. Stata software was then used to explore the relationship between SISCOM localization and surgical outcomes, including a subgroup analysis for extra-temporal lobe epilepsy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The unweighted positive and concordant rates of SISCOM were 85.9% and 65.3%, respectively. In 142 MRI-negative patients, the SISCOM positive rate was 83.8%. The pooled PPV of 178 surgical patients with concordant SISCOM was 56%. In the meta-analysis of 275 surgical patients, the seizure-free odds ratio was 3.28-times higher in concordant than in non-concordant SISCOM patients [95%CI (1.90, 5.67)]. For extra-temporal lobe epilepsy, the seizure-free odds ratio was 2.44-times higher in concordant than in non-concordant SISCOM patients [95%CI (1.34, 4.43)].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicate that SISCOM has moderate sensitivity in localizing the epileptogenic zone and can provide complementary information when MRI is negative. Furthermore, SISCOM localization concordant with the gold standard demonstrates slightly higher predictive value for good surgical outcomes. Further research is required to explore the influence of SISCOM localization results in temporal lobe versus extra-temporal lobe epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China. Electronic address: chentongsuda@126.com.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China. Electronic address: abcgliang@sina.com.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
keywords: Epileptogenic zone; Localization value; SISCOM; Surgical evaluation