Background: Perineural spread of head and neck tumors is linked to a worse chance of survival as well as a higher risk of local recurrence and metastasis. Particle emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) using 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) is part of the work-up and follow-up of many afflicted patients, and radiologists play an essential role in the assessment and management of head and neck cancer.
Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET in detecting perineural spread among patients with head and neck tumors through a meta-analysis.
Material and methods: Relevant articles were searched using appropriate keywords from PubMed, MEDLINE and PubMed Central (PMC) databases. Retrospective and prospective studies were included as per the predefined PICOS criteria. Demographic summary and event data for diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET were determined, and odds ratio (OR), sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and predictive values were calculated using RevMan software. The bias risk was analyzed with Egger's and Begg's tests using MedCalc software.
Results: Fourteen clinical trials performed between 2000 and 2021, with 977 head and neck cancer patients with perineural spread, were included according to the inclusion criteria. Included studies used 18F-FDG PET imaging of tumors and reported its high sensitivity. In the current study, we obtained the pooled OR = 3.088 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): [1.486; 6.419]), pooled sensitivity of 91.7%, pooled specificity of 92.35%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 92.27%, negative predictive value (NPV) of 91.13%, positive likelihood ratio of 7.45, negative likelihood ratio of 0.28, disease prevalence of 95.8%, and accuracy of 91.5%. Data was heterogeneous, with Q value of 33.8%, degrees of freedom (df) value of 13, I2 value of 61.5% (31.23-78.5), and p-value = 0.0013. The risk of publication bias was low, with a p = 0.7490 (Egger's test) and p = 0.7843 (Begg's test).
Conclusion: The present meta-analysis highly recommends 18F-FDG PET as an effective imaging method for patients with head and neck tumors with perineural spread.
Keywords: FDG PET scan; MRI; head and neck tumors; perineural invasion; perineural spread.