Somatostatin receptor PET/CT in neuroendocrine tumours: update on systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging 2013-10, Vol.40 (11), p.1770-1780
• Main Authors: Geijer, Håkan, Breimer, Lars H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cancer; Cardiology; Female; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Middle Aged; Multimodal Imaging; NET; Neuroendocrine; Neuroendocrine Tumors - diagnostic imaging; Neuroendocrine Tumors - metabolism; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Orthopedics; PET; Positron emission tomography; Predictive Value of Tests; Radiology; Receptors, Somatostatin - metabolism; Review Article; Somatostatin; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 1619-7070; 1619-7089; 1619-7089
• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-013-2482-z

Purpose Neuroendocrine tumours (NET) are uncommon and may be localized in many different places in the body. Traditional imaging has mainly been performed with CT and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS). Recently, it has become possible to use somatostatin receptor PET/CT (SMSR PET) instead, which might improve diagnostic quality. To evaluate the diagnostic quality of SMSR PET we performed a meta-analysis as an update of a previous study published in 2012. Methods A literature search was performed searching MEDLINE, Embase and five other databases with a combination of the expressions “PET”, “positron emission tomography”, “neuroendocrine” and “NET”. The search was updated to 31 December 2012. Studies were selected which evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of SMSR PET for NET in the thorax or abdomen with a study size of at least eight patients. The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated with QUADAS-2. Results Eight studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were selected for final analysis, and 14 articles from a previous meta-analysis were added for a total of 22 articles. A total of 2,105 patients were included in the studies, an increase from 567 in the previous meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity was 93 % (95 % CI 91 – 94 %) and specificity 96 % (95 % CI 95 – 98 %). The area under the summary ROC curve was 0.98 (95 % CI 0.95 – 1.0). In the previous meta-analysis the pooled sensitivity was 93 % (95 % CI 91 – 95 %) and specificity 91 % (95 % CI 82 – 97 %). Conclusion SMSR PET has good diagnostic performance for evaluation of NET in the thorax and abdomen, better than SRS which has been the previous standard method. This meta-analysis gives further support for switching to SMSR PET.