18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography as a screening tool for second primary cancers in cancer patients

Background We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18FDG PET-CT) for the detection of second primary cancers in cancer patients. Results This present study analyzed a total of 6 selected studies (1374 patients). The sensitivity and specificity of PET-CT were 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66 to 0.93), and 0.98 (95% CI = 0.97 to 0.98). Area under the curve was 0.98 (95% CI = 0.96 to 0.99). Methods Studies were systematically searched for relevant PET-CT original articles in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. We calculated the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for 18FDG PET-CT. We also constructed the summary receiver-operating characteristic curve for 18FDG PET-CT. Conclusions 18FDG PET-CT has high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of second primary cancers in cancer patients.