Table 1. Principle characteristics of included studies.
| Author (Year) | Country (Ethnicity) | Number | Design | Mean age (Years) | Gender (M/F) | Imaging examination | Reference standard* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giganti 2017 [46] | Italy (Caucasian) | 89 | R | 71 (66–78)# | 58/31 | DWI | Pathological analysis after Ivor-Lewis (n = 5), subtotal gastrectomy (n =52) and total gastrectomy (n =32) |
| Giganti 2016 [47] | Italy (Caucasian) | 52 | P | 68.5 (43-85) | 33/19 | DWI | Pathological analysis after Ivor-Lewis (n = 2), subtotal gastrectomy (n =28) and total gastrectomy (n =22) |
| Joo 2015 [48] | Korea (Asian) | 47 | P | 61.5 (38–91) | ND | DWI | Pathological analysis after curative or palliative gastrectomy and LN dissection |
| Hasbahceci 2015 [49] | Turkey (Caucasian) | 23 | P | 59.4 ± 10.9$ | 11/12 | DWI | Pathological analysis after radical resection of gastric tumor with standard D1+ or D2 LN dissection |
| Zhou 2014 [50] | China (Asian) | 52 | R | 60 (28–80) | 34/18 | DWI | Pathological analysis after D1 (n = 15), D2 (n =24) and D3 lymphadenectomy (n = 13) |
| Lei 2013 [51] | China (Asian) | 39 | R | 52 (31–82) | 26/12 | DWI | Pathological analysis after surgery |
| Altini 2015 [52] | Italy (Caucasian) | 45 | R | 66 (44–86) | 27/18 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after surgery |
| Filik 2015 [41] | Turkey (Caucasian) | 31 | R | 58.9±12.6 | 24/7 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after curative surgery including gastrectomy and lymph node dissection |
| Namikawa 2014 [53] | Japan (Asian) | 90 | R | 72 (19–89) | 70/20 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after gastrectomy: D2 (n = 56), D1 (n =25), D0 (n = 9) |
| Park 2014 [39] | Korea (Asian) | 74 | R | 67 (38–88) | 56/18 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after standard gastrectomy and regional LN dissection (at least D2 dissection) |
| Youn 2012 [40] | Korea (Asian) | 396 | R | 59 (27–86) | 278/118 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after radical subtotal or total gastrectomies (n = 384), open and closure (n = 4) and palliative surgery (n = 8) |
| Ha 2011 [21] | Korea (Asian) | 78 | R | 61 (31–85) | 53/25 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after standard lymphadenectomy (at least D2). |
| Kim 2011 [38] | Korea (Asian) | 71 | R | 58 (27–77) | 53/25 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after radical surgery such as total gastrectomy n = 30) or subtotal gastrectomy (n =41) in conjunction withlymphadenectomy |
| Oh 2011 [54] | Japan (Asian) | 136 | R | 64.4 ± 10.5 | 98/38 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after gastrectomy |
| Yang 2008 [55] | Japan (Asian) | 78 | R | 65.6 ± 1.1 | 57/21 | PET/CT | Pathological analysis after radical gastrectomy (D1+beta for EGC, D2 for AGC) |
#Data in brackets were represented as age range; $Data were represented as mean ± standard deviation. *D0, D1, D1+, D2 and D3 refers to the classification of LN dissection depending on the extent of lymph nodes removed at the time of gastrectomy. Abbreviations: DWI = diffusion weighted imaging; PET/CT = positron emission tomography/computed Tomography; P = prospective; R = retrospective; EGC = early gastric cancer; AGC = advanced gastric cancer; LN =lymph node; M = male; F = female; ND = not documented.