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Whole-Body MRI Is an Effective Imaging Modality for Hematological Malignancy Treatment Response Assessment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lin G, Zong X, Li Y, Tan W, Sun W, Zhang S, Gan Y, Zeng H

Frontiers in oncology, 2022

457 participants

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) for assessment of hematological malignancies' therapeutic response.

METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched up to August 2021 to identify studies reporting the diagnostic performance of WB-MRI for the assessment of hematological malignancies' treatment response. A bivariate random-effects model was applied for the generation of the pooled diagnostic performance.

RESULTS: Fourteen studies with 457 patients with lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and sarcoma (very small proportion) were analyzed. Overall pooled sensitivity and specificity of WB-MRI were 0.88 (95% CI: 0.73-0.95) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.73-0.93), respectively. Studies using whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging (WB-DWI) showed higher sensitivity than those that did not (0.94 vs. 0.55, p = 0.02). The pooled concordance rate of WB-MRI to assess hematological malignancies' treatment response with reference standard was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.59-0.96). WB-MRI and PET/CT showed similar diagnostic performance (sensitivity [0.83 vs. 0.92, p = 0.11] and specificity [0.87 vs. 0.76, p = 0.73]).

CONCLUSION: WB-MRI has high diagnostic performance for hematological malignancies' treatment response assessment. The adding of WB-DWI is strongly associated with increased sensitivity.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 457 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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