The Diagnosis of Metastatic Axillary Lymph Nodes of Breast Cancer By Diffusion Weighted Imaging: a meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the clinical significance of diffusion-weighted imaging in assessing the status of axillary lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases, selected studies by inclusion and exclusion criteria, and assessed the quality of selected studies. We explored the source of heterogeneity; calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and pretest probability.