Table 1.

Characteristics of studies included in meta-analysis

Studies	Year	Design	Blind	Sample size	M/B	Reference standard	PET/CT	Tumor markers
Cao [11]	2021	Retrospective	Unclear	80	55/25	S	No	Yes
Chen [12]	2020	Retrospective	Unclear	216	160/56	S	No	No
Chen [13]	2016	Retrospective	Unclear	289	207/82	S	No	No
Chen [14]	2013	Retrospective	Unclear	109	67/42	S, B	Yes	No
Cheng [15]	2019	Retrospective	Unclear	362	291/71	S, B	Yes	No
Dong [16]	2014	Retrospective	Unclear	1679	1296/383	S, B	No	Yes
Hu [17]	2016	Retrospective	Yes	112	82/30	S	No	No
Lin [18]	2015	Retrospective	Yes	186	123/63	S, B	Yes	No
Ma [19]	2020	Retrospective	Unclear	161	131/30	S, B	Yes	No
Tian [20]	2012	Retrospective	Unclear	105	61/44	S, B	Yes	No
Wang [21]	2018	Retrospective	Yes	268	156/112	S	No	No
Xiang [22]	2016	Retrospective	Yes	110	80/30	S	Yes	Yes
Xiao [23]	2019	Retrospective	Unclear	242	209/33	S, B	No	Yes
Xu [24]	2020	Retrospective	Unclear	160	122/38	S	Yes	Yes
Yang [25]	2012	Retrospective	Unclear	145	98/47	S	No	No
Yu [26]	2016	Retrospective	Unclear	139	73/66	S	No	No
Zhang [27]	2015	Retrospective	Unclear	120	72/48	S, B	No	Yes
Zhang [28]	2016	Retrospective	Unclear	270	110/160	S	No	No
Zhao [29]	2021	Retrospective	Yes	250	156/94	S, B	No	Yes
Zhong [30]	2017	Retrospective	Unclear	168	113/55	S, B	No	No

M: malignant; B: benign; S: surgery; B: biopsy; PET/CT: positron emission tomography/computed tomography