Discordance rate between radiolabelled choline PET/CT and bone scintigraphy in detecting bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer: a meta-analysis

Abstract

The objective of the study was to systematically review published data and perform a meta-analysis about the discordance rate between radiolabelled choline PET/CT and bone scintigraphy (BS) in detecting bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). A comprehensive literature search of studies or subsets of studies published through November 2014 including information on the comparison among radiolabelled choline PET/CT and bone scintigraphy in PCa patients was carried out. A meta-analysis was performed in order to calculate the pooled discordance rate among these methods in detecting bone metastases on a per patient-based analysis. Twelve articles were selected. The pooled discordance rate among radiolabelled choline PET/CT and BS in detecting bone metastases was 10.9 % (95 % confidence interval 6.3–16.7 %). Discordant findings were due to radiolabelled choline positive and BS negative or inconclusive findings, but BS positive and radiolabelled choline-negative findings also occurred. We discuss the possible causes of discordant findings. Discordance rate between radiolabelled choline PET/CT and BS in detecting bone metastases in PCa patients is not negligible and both methods are useful in this setting.