We aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of C-11 choline and C-11 acetate positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for lymph node (LN) staging in bladder cancer (BC) patients through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
The MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library database, from the earliest available date of indexing through June 30, 2017, were searched for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of C-11 choline and C-11 acetate PET/CT for LN staging in BC. We determined the sensitivities and specificities across studies, calculated positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR-), and constructed summary receiver operating characteristic curves.
Across 10 studies (282 patients), the pooled sensitivity was 0.66 (95% CI 0.54-0.75) without heterogeneity (χ2 = 12.4, p = 0.19) and a pooled specificity of 0.89 (95% CI 0.76-0.95) with heterogeneity (χ2 = 29.1, p = 0.00). Likelihood ratio (LR) syntheses gave an overall positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 5.8 (95% CI 2.7-12.7) and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of 0.39 (95% CI 0.28-0.53). The pooled diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 15 (95% CI 6-38). In meta-regression analysis, the study design (prospective vs retrospective) was the source of the study heterogeneity.
C-11 choline and C-11 acetate PET/CT shows a low sensitivity and moderate specificity for the detection of metastatic LNs in patients with BC. Moreover, heterogeneity among the studies should be considered a limitation. Further large multicenter studies would be necessary to substantiate the diagnostic accuracy of C-11 choline and C-11 acetate PET/CT for this purpose.
World journal of urology. 2018 Jan 02 [Epub ahead of print]
Seong-Jang Kim, Phillip J Koo, Kyoungjune Pak, In-Ju Kim, Keunyoung Kim
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, 50612, Republic of Korea. ., Diagnostic Imaging, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2946 E. Banner Gateway Drive, Gilbert, AZ, 85234, USA., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, 49241, Republic of Korea.