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Detection of vertebral metastases: a meta-analysis comparing MRI, CT, PET, BS and BS with SPECT

  • Review – Clinical Oncology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objective

To perform a meta-analysis to compare the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), bone scintigraphy (BS) and BS with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in detecting vertebral metastases.

Methods

Relevant original articles published from January 1995 to December 2015 were searched. Two reviewers independently extracted data. Software called “META-DiSc” was used to obtain pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves.

Results

Twenty-three articles consisting of 33 studies fulfilled all inclusion criteria. On per-patient basis, for sensitivity, MRI = PET = SPECT > CT = BS (“=” indicated no significant difference, P > 0.05; “>” indicated significantly higher, P < 0.05). For specificity, MRI = CT = BS > SPECT > PET. For DOR, MRI > SPECT > BS > CT = PET. SROC curves for SPECT and MRI showed better diagnostic accuracy than others. On per-lesion basis, for sensitivity, PET = SPECT = MRI > BS > CT. For specificity, MRI = CT > PET = SPECT = BS. For DOR, MRI > SPECT > CT = PET > BS. SROC curves showed MRI had the best while CT had the lowest diagnostic accuracy.

Conclusion

For diagnosis of vertebral metastases, MRI was found to be the best modality and also better than other techniques on both per-patient and per-lesion basis.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu, China

      Tao Liu, Shenghao Wang, Hao Liu, Bin Meng, Feng Zhou & Huilin Yang

    2. Orthopaedic Institute, Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

      Fan He & Huilin Yang

    3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Haimen People’s Hospital, Haimen, China

      Xiaojian Shi

    Authors
    1. Tao Liu
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    2. Shenghao Wang
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    3. Hao Liu
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    4. Bin Meng
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    5. Feng Zhou
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    6. Fan He
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    Correspondence to Huilin Yang.

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    All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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    The article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

    Additional information

    Tao Liu, Shenghao Wang and Hao Liu contributed equally to this work and shared the first authorship.

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    Liu, T., Wang, S., Liu, H. et al. Detection of vertebral metastases: a meta-analysis comparing MRI, CT, PET, BS and BS with SPECT. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 143, 457–465 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-016-2288-z

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-016-2288-z

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