Meta-analysis of the additional value of integrated 18FDG PET-CT for tumor distant metastasis staging: comparison with 18FDG PET alone and CT alone.

Background: We performed a meta-analysis to compare the diagnostic performance of integrated (18)FDG PET-CT with that of (18)FDG PET alone and CT alone for the overall assessment of tumor distant metastases.

Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of 11 available articles (1107 patients). We calculated sensitivities, specificities, positive likelihood ratios, and negative likelihood ratios for integrated PET-CT, PET alone, and CT alone, respectively.