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FDG PET/CT for the detection of bone marrow involvement in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: systematic review and meta-analysis

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To systematically review and meta-analyse published data on the diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting bone marrow involvement in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Methods

PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase were systematically searched for relevant studies. The methodological quality of each study was assessed. Sensitivities and specificities of FDG PET/CT in individual studies were calculated and meta-analysed with a random effects model. A summary receiver operating characteristic curve (sROC) was constructed with the Moses-Shapiro-Littenberg method. Weighted summary proportions of discrepancies between the FDG PET/CT and (blind) bone marrow biopsy (BMB) results among all patients were calculated.

Results

Seven studies, with a total of 654 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL, were included. Overall, the quality of the included studies was moderate. The sensitivity and specificity of FDG PET/CT for detecting bone marrow involvement ranged from 70.8 % to 95.8 % and from 99.0 % to 100 %, with pooled estimates of 88.7 % (95 % confidence interval, CI, 82.5 – 93.3 %) and 99.8 % (95 % CI 98.8 – 100 %), respectively. The area under the sROC curve was 0.9983. The weighted summary proportion of FDG PET/CT-negative patients with positive BMB findings among all patients was 3.1 % (95 % CI 1.8 – 5.0 %) and the weighted summary proportion of FDG PET/CT-positive patients with negative BMB findings among all patients was 12.5 % (95 % CI 8.4 – 17.3 %).

Conclusion

FDG PET/CT is accurate and complementary to BMB for detecting bone marrow involvement in patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL. A negative FDG PET/CT scan cannot rule out the presence of bone marrow involvement, but positive FDG PET/CT findings obviate the need for BMB for the detection of bone marrow involvement in these patients.

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Funding

This project was financially supported by an Alpe d’HuZes/Dutch Cancer Society Bas Mulder Award to T.C.K. (grant no. 5409) and the grant of a ZonMW AGIKO stipend to T.C.K. (grant no. 92003497). Data collection, analysis and interpretation, the writing of the paper, and the decision to submit were left to the authors’ discretion and were not influenced by Alpe d’HuZes/Dutch Cancer Society or ZonMW.

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Correspondence to Thomas C. Kwee.

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Adams, H.J.A., Kwee, T.C., de Keizer, B. et al. FDG PET/CT for the detection of bone marrow involvement in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 41, 565–574 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-013-2623-4

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