FDG-PET and other imaging modalities for the evaluation of breast cancer recurrence and metastases: a meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology 2010-07, Vol.136 (7), p.1007-1022
• Main Authors: Pan, LingLing, Han, Yuan, Sun, XiaoGuang, Liu, JianJun, Gang, Huang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer Research; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Hematology; Humans; Internal Medicine; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Mammary gland diseases; Medical diagnosis; Medical imaging; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis - diagnosis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnosis; Oncology; Original Paper; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; Tumors; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0171-5216; 1432-1335
• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-009-0746-6

Background and purpose Breast carcinoma is the most common cancer in female patients with a propensity for recurrence and metastases. The accuracy of ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scintimammography (SMM) and positron emission tomography (PET) in diagnosing the recurrent and/or breast cancer has never been systematically assessed, and present systematic review was aimed at this issue. Methods MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for articles dealt with detection of recurrent and/or metastatic breast cancer by US, CT, MRI, SMM or PET whether interpreted with or without the use of CT. Histopathologic analysis and/or close clinical and imaging follow-up for at least 6 months were used as golden reference. We extracted data to calculate sensitivity, specificity, summary receiver operating characteristic curves and area under the curve and to test for heterogeneity. Result In 42 included studies, US and MRI had highest pooled specificity (0.962 and 0.929, respectively); MRI and PET had highest pooled sensitivity (0.9500 and 0.9530, respectively). The AUC of US, CT, MRI, SMM and PET was 0.9251, 0.8596, 0.9718, 0.9386 and 0.9604, respectively. Results of pairwise comparison between each modality demonstrated that AUC of MRI and PET was higher than that of US or CT, p