Study designs of evaluations included in the review
The inclusion criteria were not clearly reported with respect to study design.
Specific interventions included in the review
PET imaging using the radiopharmaceutical 2-(F-18)-2-deoxy-D-glucose. The other index tests investigated were computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), endoscopy and clinical examination. Specifically, the review referred to the detection of unknown primaries, primary disease, cervical metastases and recurrent disease. Head and neck cancer was defined as the common squamous-cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, pharynx and larynx.
Reference standard test against which the new test was compared
The reference standard used to identify cases was not clearly reported.
Participants included in the review
Patients with suspected head and neck cancer. Most of the studies included only patients known to have head or neck cancer.
Outcomes assessed in the review
The outcomes computed from the primary studies included the sensitivity, specificity, and the positive and negative predictive value of PET.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The author did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.