The diagnostic value of PET/CT for the lymph node metastasis in Asian patients with non-small cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by a method of meta-analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Embase data bases was conducted to collect literature about PET/CT diagnosing lymph node metastasis of NSCLC up to December 1, 2021. Stata 15.0 software was used for the calculation of sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). The publication bias was evaluated by Deeks' funnel plot. RESULTS: A total of 25 studies were enrolled, including 2,458 patients with NSCLC. The pooled sensitivity of PET/CT for diagnosing lymph node metastasis in NSCLC was 0.68 (95%CI: 0.61-0.75), the pooled specificity being 0.93 (95%CI: 0.89-0.95). Likelihood ratio syntheses gave an overall PLR of 9.4 (95%CI: 6.3-13.9), and NLR of 0.34 (95%CI: 0.28-0.41). The pooled DOR was 28 (95%CI: 19-40). The summary receiver operating characteristic curve showed the area under the curve of 0.88 (95%CI: 0.84-0.90). CONCLUSION: Positron emission tomography/CT has a good value in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of NSCLC, with specificity excellent. Positron emission tomography/CT can be used as one of the main imaging diagnosis methods for lymph node metastasis in patients with NSCLC.

Altered expression of DLG1-AS1 distinguished papillary thyroid carcinoma from benign thyroid nodules.

BACKGROUND: Benign thyroid nodules (BTN) are frequently diagnosed as papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), leading to unnecessary treatment. We found that plasma lncRNA DLG1-AS1 was upregulated in PTC patients but not in BTN patients and healthy controls. METHODS: In this study DLG1-AS1 and miR-199a-3p in plasma of both PTC patients and BTN patients were detected by qPCR. ROC curve analysis was performed for diagnostic analysis. Overexpression experiments were performed to analyze the interaction between DLG1-AS1 and miR-199a-3p. CCK-8 assay was performed to analyze cell proliferation. RESULTS: In this study, upregulation of DLG1-AS1 distinguished PTC patients from BTN patients and healthy controls. Plasma miR-199a-3p was downregulated in PTC patients compared with healthy controls and BTN patients. Plasma levels of miR-199a-3p were inversely correlated in PTC patients, but not in BTN patients and healthy controls. miR-199a-3p overexpression failed to significantly affect DLG1-AS1, while DLG1-AS1 overexpression resulted in downregulated miR-199a-3p, In addition, DLG1-AS1 overexpression promoted the proliferation of PTC cells. miR-199a-3p overexpression played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of DLG1-AS1 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, DLG1-AS1 may promote PTC by downregulating miR-199a-3p.