18FDG PET-CT for diagnosis of distant metastases in breast cancer patients. A meta-analysis

Background: We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the value of (18)FDG PET-CT for diagnosis of distant metastases in breast cancer patients.

Methods: Studies about PET-CT were systematically searched in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. We calculated sensitivities, specificities, likelihood ratios, and constructed summary receiver operating characteristic curves for PET-CT. We also compared the performance of PET-CT with that of conventional imaging by analyzing studies that had also used conventional imaging on the same patients.

Results: Across 8 PET-CT studies (748 patients), sensitivity and specificity of PET-CT were 0.96 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.90-0.98) and 0.95 (95% CI = 0.92-0.97). Across 6 comparative studies (664 patients), sensitivity and specificity of PET-CT were 0.97 (95% CI = 0.84-0.99) and 0.95 (95% CI = 0.93-0.97), and of conventional imaging were 0.56 (95% CI = 0.38-0.74) and 0.91 (95% CI = 0.78-0.97), respectively.

Conclusions: Compared with conventional imaging, (18)FDG PET-CT has higher sensitivity for diagnosis of distant metastases in breast cancer patients.