Diagnostic Value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography with Computed Tomography for Lymph Node Staging in Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

Performance of fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography imaging for lymph node staging in bladder and upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a systematic review

“…The initial search resulted in 822 articles, from which 23 articles met our inclusion criteria: 20 articles evaluated UC of the bladder, whereas three addressed UTUC [10,21,22]. Regarding the main outcome of the included studies, different measures were used to estimate the diagnostic value of the FDG PET-CT technique in the diagnosis or staging of UC.…”

“…This tool is based on four domains: patient selection, index test, reference standard, and the timing of reference test. Also, the QUADAS-2 tool assessed applicability concerns of (patient selection, index test, and reference standard) (Table 1 [10,).…”

“…The performance of FDG PET-CT in the evaluation of UTUC has been examined in three retrospective studies [10,21,22]. Tanaka et al [21] compared the diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET-CT and CT alone in 53 patients for detecting UTUC metastases in primary and recurrent diseases.…”

“…Asai et al [22] investigated the performance of FDG PET-CT in the detection of LNs in a subgroup of 28 patients with UTUC and reported a sensitivity of 60%, with no data on specificity or other measures. Finally, in 2019, Voskuilen et al [10] evaluated the role of FDG PET-CT for the detection of LN metastases in 117 patients with UTUC. Overall, the authors reported a sensitivity and specificity of FDG PET-CT of 82% and 84%, respectively (Table 4 [10,21,22]).…”

“…While diagnosis with conventional techniques such as cytology, endoscopy, biopsy, and histopathological evaluation of these tumours is established, accurate UC staging is still challenging [5][6][7][8]. Various imaging techniques have been proposed for accurate staging of UC in order to improve patient counselling and treatment planning [9,10]. Convention al imaging techniques, e.g.…”