Performance of 18F-FDG, 11C-Methionine, and 18F-FET PET for Glioma Grading: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Gliomas constitute the most frequent primary brain tumors. Glioblastoma, the most common and malignant glioma in adults, has dismal prognosis with any current therapy. On the other hand, low-grade gliomas, the second most common type of gliomas, are potentially curative with appropriate treatment.

Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the performance of PET tracers with the best available evidence, namely, fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), C-methionine (MET), and F-fluoroethyltyrosine (FET), in differentiating low- from high-grade gliomas.

Results: Twenty-three studies with a total of 994 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivities of both MET PET and FET PET were found to be significantly higher than of FDG PET (94%, 88%, and 63% respectively, P < 0.001). The pooled specificity of FDG PET was found to be significantly greater compared with both MET PET and FET PET (89%, 55%, and 57%, respectively; P = 0.002). Fluorodeoxyglucose PET was superior in terms of higher positive likelihood ratio values compared with both FET PET and MET PET.

Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicated that both MET and FET were superior to FDG in terms of sensitivity for identifying glioma grade.