OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of 18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in detecting residual/recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma. METHOD: The literatures published between January 1990 and September 2013 were searched in PubMed, EM-BASE, EBSCO, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases. Two researchers independently selected studies, extracted data and assessed the quality of included studies according to the QUADAS tool. Summary sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratios (DOR), and receiver-operating characteristic (SROC) curves were obtained using Meta-Disc software. Subgroup analysis was also conducted. RESULT: Twenty-six studies were included in this meta-analysis, involving 1203 patients. The pooled sensitivity, specificity and DOR were 0. 92 (95% CI:0.89-0.94), 0. 87 (95% CI:0.84-0.90) and 51. 10 (95% CI:34.29-76.15), respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) and Q index estimate for PET/CT were 0. 9494 and 0. 8897, respectively. The results of subgroup analysis showed no significant differences between subgroups(P>0.05). CONCLUSION In a word, 18F-FDG PET/CT performed well for diagnosis of residual/recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma, with relatively high sensitivity and specificity.
Carcinoma ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; ROC Curve ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Recurrence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed