Diagnostic performance of artificial intelligence-assisted PET imaging for Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted PET imaging is emerging as a promising tool for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). We aim to systematically review the diagnostic accuracy of AI-assisted PET in detecting PD. The Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore databases were systematically searched for related studies that developed an AI algorithm in PET imaging for diagnostic performance from PD and were published by August 17, 2023. Binary diagnostic accuracy data were extracted for meta-analysis to derive outcomes of interest: area under the curve (AUC). 23 eligible studies provided sufficient data to construct contingency tables that allowed the calculation of diagnostic accuracy. Specifically, 11 studies were identified that distinguished PD from normal control, with a pooled AUC of 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94–0.97) for presynaptic dopamine (DA) and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87–0.93) for glucose metabolism ( 18 F-FDG). 13 studies were identified that distinguished PD from the atypical parkinsonism (AP), with a pooled AUC of 0.93 (95% CI: 0.91 − 0.95) for presynaptic DA, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75–0.82) for postsynaptic DA, and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96–0.99) for 18 F-FDG. Acceptable diagnostic performance of PD with AI algorithms-assisted PET imaging was highlighted across the subgroups. More rigorous reporting standards that take into account the unique challenges of AI research could improve future studies.