Limited additional value of cervical ultrasonography over a negative 18F-FDG PET/CT for diagnosing cervical lymph node metastases in patients with esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Limited additional value of cervical ultrasonography over a negative 18F-FDG PET/CT for diagnosing cervical lymph node metastases in patients with esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Nucl Med Commun. 2018 Apr 18;:

Authors: Goense L, Meziani J, van Rossum PSN, Wessels FJ, Meijer GJ, Lam MGEH, van Hillegersberg R, Ruurda JP

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the additional value of cervical ultrasonography as supplement to a negative fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) for detecting cervical lymph node metastases during the initial staging of patients with esophageal cancer.
METHODS: PubMed/Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane library were systematically searched. The analysis included diagnostic studies describing the accuracy of cervical ultrasonography and integrated F-FDG PET/CT or standalone F-FDG PET and CT for detecting cervical lymph node metastases in patients with esophageal cancer. The reference standard consisted of cytopathology and/or clinical follow-up. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. A random effects model was used to meta-analyze the additional diagnostic value of cervical ultrasonography.
RESULTS: Four diagnostic studies were eligible and included for meta-analysis, comprising 567 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent diagnostic workup before treatment. The quality of the included studies was considered reasonable; there were few concerns regarding risk of bias and applicability. In three of the four studies, cervical ultrasonography did not detect cervical lymph node metastases in addition to a negative finding on F-FDG PET/CT or standalone F-FDG PET and CT. In one study, cervical ultrasonography detected additional cervical lymph node metastases in 4% (3/74) of patients over standalone F-FDG PET and CT. Pooled estimate of the additional value of cervical ultrasonography was 1% (95% confidence interval: 0-5%).
CONCLUSION: Cervical ultrasonography has very limited additional diagnostic value as supplement to a negative F-FDG PET/CT in the detection of cervical lymph node metastases during the initial staging of patients with esophageal cancer.

PMID: 29672463 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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