MRI and Bone Scintigraphy for Breast Cancer Bone Metastase: A Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance image (MRI) and bone scintigraphy (BS) in the diagnosis of breast cancer bone metastases. METHODS: Searching in the databases including PubMed, Embase about the comparative study of MRI and bone scintigraphy in the diagnosis of breast cancer bone metastases during 2000~2018. After we screened further, the extracted effective data were calculated by Meta-Disc 1.4 software. RESULTS: We obtained 4 articles. The pooled estimates for sensitivity of MRI, BS were 0.99 (95% CI, [0.95, 1.00]) and 0.93 (95% CI, [0.88, 0.97]) respectively; For specificity were 0.99 (95% CI, [0.95, 1.00]) and 0.86 (95% CI, [0.79, 0.92]) respectively. The AUC of SROC curve for MRI and BS were 0.9948 and 0.9675 respectively. CONCLUSION: MRI remains to be a satisfactory method for the diagnosis of breast cancer bone metastases and should first be considered for patients.