Background/aim: The purpose of the present study was to improve the diagnostic precision of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with advanced esophageal cancer.
Patients and methods: Thirty patients underwent FDG-PET/CT before and after NAC. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) were measured. Patients were divided into two pathological response groups: "responders" (grades 1b-3) or "non-responders" (grades 0-1a).
Results: Overall, 11 patients were responders. Significant differences were present for the post-NAC SUVmax (p=0.070), %decrease in SUVmax (p=0.017), post-NAC MTV (p=0.014), and %decrease in MTV (p=0.003).
Conclusion: Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the %decrease in MTV of the primary tumor was the best indicator of response to NAC. We are currently striving to improve the accuracy of this assessment method.
Keywords: Esophageal cancer; metabolic tumor volume; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; positron emission tomography.
Copyright© 2016 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.