Diagnostic value of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase in lung carcinoma patients with bone metastases: a meta-analysis.

UNLABELLED Aim and Backgrounds: The accurate diagnosis of lung carcinoma patients with bone metastases is crucial for therapy and the prevention of complications. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BALP) in lung carcinoma patients with bone metastases. METHODS Such databases as PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Ovid, BioMed Central, Biosis previews and four Chinese databases (Chinese Biomedical Literature Database-disc (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Technology of Chongqing (VIP) and Wan Fang DATA) were retrieved on computer, and the relevant journals were also manually searched to collect the trials on BALP in diagnosis of lung carcinoma patients with bone metastases. The meta-analysis was conducted by using Meta-Disc 1.4 software. RESULTS A total of 8 studies were included, and there were 848 lung carcinoma patients diagnosed by gold standard, patients were divided into two groups: 419 cases with bone metastases and 429 cases without bone metastases. The meta-analysis showed that, the pooled sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 0.48 [95% CI (0.43 to 0.53)], 0.86 [95% CI (0.82 to 0.89)], 3.14 [95% CI (2.47 to 3.99)], 0.62 [95% CI (0.56 to 0.68)], 6.66 [95% CI (4.62 to 9.60)] respectively. And the AUC of SROC was 0.78, (Q*=0.72). CONCLUSION BALP has greater diagnostic value in detecting lung carcinoma patients with bone metastases. However, further large scale studies are required to confirm the predictive value.