Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology remains the gold standard approach for diagnosing of leptomeningeal metastases (LM), but has clinical problems due to its low sensitivity. This systemic review and meta-analysis evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the novel CSF biomarkers of liquid biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting LM in patients with solid cancers.
Methods: A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted to identify all published diagnostic accuracy studies on CSF liquid biopsies and MRI since January 2000 with registration for PROSPERO (#CRD42022301988). Articles were selected based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria following the PRISMA 2020 statement.
Results: The search yielded 3790 citations, and 10 studies with 668 patients were included in the final analysis. The pooled prevalence of LM was 50.9% (340/668). The respective sensitivity and specificity for index tests were as follows: circulating tumor cells (CTC), 87.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] 77.9-92.6%) and 93.8% (86.9-97.2%); cell-free tumor DNA, 97.9% (19.3-100%) and 89.0% (25.3-99.5%); MRI 59.4% (60.7-76.9%) and 97.6% (77.3-99.8%); cytology, 71.9% (54.7-82.9%) and 100%. The diagnostic odds ratio was 100.6 (29.38-344.09) for CTC and 93.3 (88.42-1034.05) for MRI.
Conclusion: Novel CSF liquid biopsies and MRI may offer improved diagnostic accuracy for LM from solid cancers; however, further research is required to specify the threshold values and to construct standards for individual primary cancers.
Keywords: analysis; cell; circulating tumor cell; diagnostic performance; free tumor DNA; leptomeningeal metastasis; meta.
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press, the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology.