The Proportion of Malignancy in Incidental Thyroid Lesions on 18-FDG PET Study: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nayan, Smriti; Ramakrishna, Jayant; Gupta, Michael K.
• Is Part Of: Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery. Volume 151:Number 2(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 190
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: thyroid -- incidental findings -- positron emission tomography -- papillary thyroid cancer -- systematic review; Head -- Surgery -- Periodicals; Neck -- Surgery -- Periodicals; Otolaryngology -- Periodicals; 617.51
• DOI: 10.1177/0194599814530861
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0194-5998

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate through a systematic review and meta-analysis the malignancy rates of thyroid incidentalomas identified in adults by 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, computed tomography (18-FDG PET-CT) imaging studies. Data Sources: The literature search was conducted using OVID Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Pubmed, and reference list review (inception to April 2013) by 2 independent review authors. Review Methods: Studies with adults undergoing 18-FDG PET scan identifying a thyroid incidentaloma with definitive histological or cytological results reported were included. Results: Thirty-one studies with a total of 197, 296 PET studies and 3659 focal thyroid incidentalomas were identified with 1341 having definitive cytopathology or histopathology. The pooled proportion of malignancy was calculated as 19.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.3%-24.7%) with 15.4% (95% CI, 11.4%-20.0%) of the total cases being papillary thyroid cancer. Distant metastases represented 1.1% (95% CI, 0.6%-1.8%) of the total cases. Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that the incidence of malignancy is high in thyroid incidentalomas identified through 18-FDG PET imaging studies. Thyroid incidentalomas identified through 18-FDG PET require thorough investigation.