SPET–CT in thyroid cancer: a systematic review

Abstract The purpose of this study was to systematically review the utility of single-photon emission tomography–computed tomography (SPET–CT) fusion imaging in the investigation of thyroid cancer. We performed a systematic search of the world literature on radionuclide SPET–CT imaging of thyroid cancer using the medical databases Medline (OVID) and PubMed. The following search terms were used to identify relevant studies: (a) thyroid, combined with (b) SPECT/CT or SPECT–CT or SPET/CT or SPET–CT. The electronic searches returned citations for 1,189 potentially eligible articles and 98 abstracts were reviewed for relevance by two co-authors. Thirty-one peer-reviewed full articles reporting the utility, value and diagnostic performance of radioiodine SPET–CT for the imaging of well-differentiated thyroid cancer were selected. The quality of these studies was assessed using the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies-2 tool. As there was heterogeneity in the studies, a systematic review analysis was conducted as our chosen research synthesis method. A total of 31 studies published between 2003 and 2014 report the utility of radioiodine SPET–CT. These studies uniformly found incremental diagnostic value of I-123 and I-131 SPET–CT over SPET and/or planar imaging. SPET–CT allows accurate characterization of radioiodine uptake in the neck and at distant sites, clarifies equivocal foci of radioactivity, improves specificity for disease, a...
Source: Clinical and Translational Imaging - Category: Radiology Source Type: research