Positron emission tomography and positron emission tomography‐CT evaluation for recurrent papillary thyroid carcinoma: Meta‐analysis and literature review

Background Sensitivity and specificity data regarding positron emission tomography (PET) and PET/CT for surveillance of well‐differentiated thyroid cancer does not evaluate subtypes separately. Papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma may have different characteristics on PET/CT imaging and so should be investigated individually. Methods This is a systematic meta‐analysis of studies using PET for surveillance in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Results Using different statistical models, combined sensitivity of PET and PET/CT for papillary thyroid carcinoma was 77% by the fixed effect model and 82% by the random‐effects model, specificity was calculated as 85% and 84%, respectively. Meta‐regression was performed to evaluate whether I‐131 negativity affected PET positivity; no correlation between I‐131 negativity and PET sensitivity or specificity was found. Conclusion PET and PET/CT are useful modalities in surveillance of papillary thyroid carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine papillary thyroid carcinoma independently of other subtypes of well‐differentiated thyroid carcinoma. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2011