Diagnostic Performance of PET or PET/CT with Different Radiotracers in Patients with Suspicious Lung Cancer or Pleural Tumours according to Published Meta-Analyses.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Several meta-analyses have reported data about the diagnostic performance of positron emission tomography or positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET or PET/CT) with different radiotracers in patients with suspicious lung cancer (LC) or pleural tumours (PT). This review article aims at providing an overview on the recent evidence-based data in this setting. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of meta-analyses published in PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane Library database from January 2010 through March 2020 about the diagnostic performance of PET or PET/CT with different radiotracers in patients with suspicious LC or PT was performed. This combination of keywords was used (A) "PET" OR "positron emission tomography" AND (B) "lung" OR "pulmonary" OR "pleur∗" AND (C) meta-analysis. Only meta-analyses on PET or PET/CT in patients with suspicious LC or PT were selected. Results: We have summarized the diagnostic performance of PET or PET/CT with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and other radiotracers taking into account 17 meta-analyses. Evidence-based data demonstrated a good diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET or PET/CT for the characterization of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) or pleural lesions with overall higher sensitivity than specificity. Evidence-based data do not support the routine use of dual time point (DTP) 18F-FDG PET/CT or fluorine-18 fluorothymidine (18F-FLT) PET/CT in the differential diagnosis of SPNs. Even if 18F-FDG PET/CT has high sensitivity and specificity as a selective screening modality for LC, its role in this setting remains unknown. Conclusions: Evidence-based data about the diagnostic performance of PET/CT with different radiotracers for suspicious LC or PT are increasing, with good diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT. More prospective multicenter studies and cost-effectiveness analyses are warranted.