Published data on the diagnosis of bone metastases of prostate cancer are conflicting and heterogeneous. We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to compare the diagnostic performance of choline-PET/CT, MRI, bone SPECT, and bone scintigraphy (BS) in detecting bone metastases in parents with prostate cancer. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratios (DOR) were calculated both on a per-patient basis and on a per-lesion basis. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were also drawn to obtain the area under curve (AUC) and Q* value. Sixteen articles consisting of 27 studies were included in the analysis. On a per-patient basis, the pooled sensitivities by using choline PET/CT, MRI, and BS were 0.91 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83-0.96], 0.97 (95% CI: 0.91-0.99), 0.79 (95% CI: 0.73-0.83), respectively. The pooled specificities for detection of bone metastases using choline PET/CT, MRI, and BS, were 0.99 (95% CI: 0.93-1.00), 0.95 (95% CI: 0.90-0.97), and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.78-0.85), respectively. On a per-lesion basis, the pooled sensitivities of choline PET/CT, bone SPECT, and BS were 0.84 (95% CI: 0.81-0.87), 0.90 (95% CI: 0.86-0.93), 0.59 (95% CI: 0.55-0.63), respectively. The pooled specificities were 0.93 (95% CI: 0.89-0.96) for choline PET/CT, 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80-0.90) for bone SPECT, and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.71-0.79) for BS. This meta-analysis indicated that MRI was better than choline PET/CT and BS on a per-patient basis. On a per-lesion analysis, choline PET/CT with the highest DOR and Q* was better than bone SPECT and BS for detecting bone metastases from prostate cancer.
