Background and purpose: In the preoperative period, discriminating CNS lymphoma from high grade glioma is important as treatment approaches differ significantly. Hence, this meta-analysis was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) values derived from dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DSCE-MRI) in differentiating CNS lymphoma from high grade glioma.
Materials and methods: The following databases were searched from January 2000 to July 2014: Medline, PubMed and Embase. No language restrictions were applied. Data analysis was conducted using Meta-Disc 1.4.
Results: A total of 79 patients (n = 30 lymphoma, n = 49 high grade glioma) and 89 lesions (n = 40 lymphoma, n = 49 high grade glioma) were included in the rCBV analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, negative likelihood ratio, positive likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio for differentiating CNS lymphoma from high grade glioma were 0.90 (95% CI 0.76-0.97), 0.98 (95% CI 0.89-1.00), 0.13 (95% CI 0.06-0.29), 21.07 (95% CI 5.61-79.19), and 187.63 (95% CI 33.15-1061.86), respectively. And the value of I(2) of DOR was 0.0%, indicating that there was no statistically significant heterogeneity of DOR between the included studies.
Conclusions: Our meta-analysis suggests that the rCBV values derived from DSCE-MRI could be useful in differentiating CNS lymphoma from high grade glioma in the preoperative. Further well-designed researches involving larger patient cohorts are needed to confirm this conclusion.
Keywords: CNS lymphoma; high grade glioma; meta-analysis; rCBV values.