TY - JOUR AU - Chang, Ning AU - Wang, Xiao-Hui AU - Cui, Long-Biao AU - Yin, Hong AU - Jiang, Tao AU - Chen, Fu-lin AU - Liu, Li-Peng AU - Zhang, Jian PY - 2019 TI - Diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in pulmonary malignant lesions: a meta-analysis JF - Translational Lung Cancer Research; Vol 8, No 6 (December 31, 2019): Translational Lung Cancer Research Y2 - 2019 KW - N2 - Background: Overuse or misuse of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) should be avoided for its ionizing-radiation. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI), characterized by no radiation, may be regarded as an alternative in differentiating pulmonary nodules. We aim to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of DW-MRI in diagnosing of pulmonary lesions. Methods: Relevant studies were searched through PubMed and Embase with no language restriction from inception to March 8, 2019. We selected studies reporting sensitivity and specificity of DW-MRI for differentiating pulmonary nodules. A summary estimates of sensitivity, specificity and area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of DW-MRI were analyzed with a random effects model. Results: We included data from 37 studies, which altogether included 2,311 pulmonary lesions. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.86 (95% CI, 0.82–0.89) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.72–0.85), and AUC was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.87–0.92). Subsequent subgroup analysis showed the higher sensitivity of DW-MRI in pulmonary lesion >2 cm in comparison to lesions ≤2 cm, however, higher specificity was observed in smaller lesions. Conclusions: Radiation-free DW-MRI showed a favorable balance between sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing pulmonary malignancies especially in lesion size ≤2 cm. Existing evidence indicated that DW- MRI may be considered as an independent substitute in diagnosis of lung lesions, which might help to prevent long-term side-effects from radiographic diagnosing and evaluating procedures. UR - https://tlcr.amegroups.org/article/view/34142