OBJECTIVETo evaluate the accuracy of positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for detecting cervical nodule metastases of oral and maxillofacial cancer.

METHODSDiagnostic test accuracy studies assessing the accuracy of PET/CT in diagnosis of cervical metastases of oral and maxillofacial cancer were retrieved from the databases of CBM, Medline (OVID) and EMBASE (searched on Dec. 13th, 2010) and manual searching of 19 dental journals in Chinese. Two researchers were employed in the articles investigation independently and evaluated the quality with quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS). Meta-analysis was done using MetaDisc 1.4.

RESULTSNine studies met the inclusion criteria and demonstrated high methodological quality. The results of Meta-analysis showed that, when nodal level was used as unit, PET/CT had good diagnostic value in detecting the cervical nodule metastases of oral and maxillofacial cancer. Under such a condition, the pooled sensitivity was 0.84, pooled specificity 0.93, pooled diagnostic odds ratio 47.89 and area under the curve 0.973 8.

CONCLUSIONThe accuracy of PET/CT for detecting cervical nodule metastases of oral and maxillofacial cancer is relatively high and it could be used as a good diagnostic tool. And special attention should be payed to its diagnostic expense and safety when considering PET/CT.