The diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT and MRI in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian tumors: an indirect comparative analysis

Abstract Objective: To compare the value of Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian tumors.Material and Methods: Retrieved the research on the diagnostic performance of MRI or 18F-FDG PET/CT in identifying benign and malignant ovarian tumors published in PubMed and Embase from January 2000 to January 2021. Two authors independently extracted the data of the characteristics of each study. If the data of the study report can be used to construct a 2X2 contingency table comparing 18F-FDG PET/CT and MRI, these studies were selected. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies were used to evaluate the quality of the studies. According to the sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT and MRI, forest plots is generated.Results：A total of 27 articles including 1118F-FDG PET/CT studies and 17 MRI studies on the differentiation of benign and malignant ovarian or accessory tumors were included for this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for 18F-FDG PET/CT in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian tumors were 0.92 (95% CI, 0.86-0.96) and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.79-0.91), respectively, and the pooled sensitivity and specificity for MRI were 0.92 (95% CI: 0.89-0.95) and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79-0.89), respectively.Conclusion：MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT have the same diagnostic performance in the differential diagnosis of ovarian benign and malignant tumors. However, MRI is more worthy of clinical application because of its lack of radiation, shorter scanning time, and lower medical costs.