The application of 18F-FDG PET in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs): Meta-analysis

Objective: To have a systemic review of the efficiency of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET in diagnosing solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). Methods: Authors searched the medline database and picked out the articles about diagnosing SPNs with FDG PET. Firstly, authors evaluated the quality of the articles according to the standard of diagnostic test recommended by the Cochrane Workshop. Then authors drew the summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and did the Meta-analysis with the Meta-view software from the Cochrane Centre. Finally, authors compared the efficiency of the qualitative and semi-quantitative methods in diagnosis of SPNs. Results: Fourteen articles entered this Meta-review, the quality level of which were a and b. Because no significant model could be obtained for the qualitative method, authors only drew the summary ROC of the semi-quantitative method and the surface area under the curve was 0.91. With the fixed effect model, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of the semi-quantitative and qualitative method were 26.97 and 39.05, respectively. Except OR, there was no significant difference between the two methods in regard to the sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: The articles entered into this Meta-review were of high quality. The pooled OR shows that FDG PET is more efficient in positive diagnosis