Meta-analysis of (18) fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-CT for diagnosis of lung malignancies in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.

Abstract

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the accuracy of (18) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-CT for diagnosis of lung malignancies in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). A systematic review of relevant literature was performed in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. The Stata software was used to pool the sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, and likelihood ratios, and to construct summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for (18) FDG PET-CT. Twelve articles (1431 patients) were included in this study. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) for (18) FDG PET-CT were 0.85 (95% CI = 0.66-0.94), 0.98 (95% CI = 0.96-0.99), 335 (95% CI = 96.4-1166), 52.0 (95% CI = 23.3-115.9), and 0.16 (95% CI = 0.06-0.43), respectively. Area under the curve was 0.99 (95% CI = 0.97-0.99). (18) FDG PET-CT is a valuable diagnostic tool for diagnosing lung malignancies in patients with HNSCC.