Reasons for exclusion of full text articles
| Reason for exclusion . | No. of studies . |
|---|---|
| Not all patients received an adequate reference test (clinico-radiologic follow-up period of at least 6 months), or this was unclear | 44 |
| Only discrepant findings between the index test and conventional imaging procedure(s) were verified using a standard of reference | 11 |
| Absolute numbers to calculate confidence intervals for the reported estimates of diagnostic performance could not be extracted | 7 |
| The area from the neck to the pelvis was not imaged in all patients or it was unclear whether this was done | 5 |
| The prognostic value of interim FDG-PET in predicting treatment outcome was investigated | 4 |
| Ten or less patients with malignant lymphoma were included | 3 |
| Patients were not examined using a quad-section (or higher) multidetector-row CT scanner, or it was unclear whether this was done | 3 |
| Only patients with negative FDG-PET scans were included | 1 |
| Patients were examined using a dual-head gamma cameras in coincidence mode for FDG imaging | 1 |
| Prior FDG-PET studies were included in the interpretation of findings | 1 |
| No separate analysis was made of patients undergoing initial staging and patients undergoing restaging | 1 |
| Total | 81 |
| Reason for exclusion . | No. of studies . |
|---|---|
| Not all patients received an adequate reference test (clinico-radiologic follow-up period of at least 6 months), or this was unclear | 44 |
| Only discrepant findings between the index test and conventional imaging procedure(s) were verified using a standard of reference | 11 |
| Absolute numbers to calculate confidence intervals for the reported estimates of diagnostic performance could not be extracted | 7 |
| The area from the neck to the pelvis was not imaged in all patients or it was unclear whether this was done | 5 |
| The prognostic value of interim FDG-PET in predicting treatment outcome was investigated | 4 |
| Ten or less patients with malignant lymphoma were included | 3 |
| Patients were not examined using a quad-section (or higher) multidetector-row CT scanner, or it was unclear whether this was done | 3 |
| Only patients with negative FDG-PET scans were included | 1 |
| Patients were examined using a dual-head gamma cameras in coincidence mode for FDG imaging | 1 |
| Prior FDG-PET studies were included in the interpretation of findings | 1 |
| No separate analysis was made of patients undergoing initial staging and patients undergoing restaging | 1 |
| Total | 81 |