Value Of Computed Tomography Versus Magnetic Resonance Imaging For The Diagnosis Of Lymph Node Staging In Preoperative Rectal Cancer:a Meta-analysis

Objective:To assess the value of computed tomography(CT) and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) in diagnosis of lymph node staging in preoperative rectal cancer. Methods:Data stemmed from VIP, CBM, CNKI, Wanfang Data, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. The studies about CT and MRI in diagnosis of lymph node staging in preoperative rectal cancer were screened according to the inclusion criteria.The retrieval time was from the time of jan2000to July2013. Metadisc1.4software was used to analyse the data. Results:A total of19articles with1543patients met the inclusion criteria,969patients with CT and621patients with MRI,47patients with both examination.The pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUC for the diagnosis of lymph node staging with CT:NO staging is0.88(95%CI:0.85～0.91)、0.82(95%CI:0.79～0.85)、0.9247; N1staging is0.69(95%CI:0.63～0.75)、0.83(95%CI:0.80～0.86)、0.8214; N2staging is0.62(95%CI:0.56～0.68)、0.95(95%CI:0.93～0.96)、0.9435.The pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUC for the diagnosis of lymph node staging with MRI:NO staging is0.75(95%CI:0.69～0.80)、0.73(95%CI:0.68～0.77)、0.8589; N1staging is0.52(95%CI:0.45～0.59)、0.78(95%CI:0.73～0.82)、0.7939; N2staging is0.63(95%CI:0.55～0.71)、0.92(95%CI:0.89～0.95)、0.9280.Conclusion:Although CT and MRI have a higher diagnostic value of lymph node staging in preoperative rectal cancer, the available evidence suggests that the diagnosis value for CT is higher than that of MRI for lymph node staging, which can provide more reliable guidances for clinical treatment.