Prognostic Significance of Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in Anal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and a Meta-Analysis.

Purpose: Prognostic significance of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-FDG-PET) in anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has been evaluated in several studies; however, the results seem to be controversial and no consensus exists about its predictive capability. The current meta-analysis was carried out to comprehensively investigate the prognostic significance of F-FDG-PET parameters in patients with anal SCC.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus databases was performed to retrieve pertinent articles published until August 5th 2018, concerning the prognostic significance of F-FDG-PET in patients with anal SCC.