Published online Jun 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i24.3021
Peer-review started: March 14, 2019
First decision: April 30, 2019
Revised: May 7, 2019
Accepted: May 31, 2019
Article in press: May 31, 2019
Published online: June 28, 2019
Processing time: 107 Days and 21.6 Hours
Esophageal cancer is known as one of the malignant cancers with poor prognosis. To improve the outcome, combined multimodality treatment is attempted. On the other hand, advances in genomics and other “omic” technologies are paving way to the patient-oriented treatment called “personalized” or “precision” medicine. Recent advancements of imaging techniques such as functional imaging make it possible to use imaging features as biomarker for diagnosis, treatment response, and prognosis in cancer treatment. In this review, we will discuss how we can use imaging derived tumor features as biomarker for the treatment of esophageal cancer.
Core tip: Advances in imaging techniques enable us to assess tumor biology such as viability, vascular physiology, heterogeneity, or metabolism, which can be new approaches to investigate biomarker for cancer treatment. In this review, we will discuss various functional imaging techniques including computed tomography/magnetic resonance perfusion, texture analysis, diffusion-weighted imaging, and positron emission tomography in terms of prediction of treatment response or prognosis in esophageal cancer.