The Role of PET in Predicting Response to Chemotherapy in oesophago-gastric Cancer

Treatment options for oesophago-gastric cancers reach from limited resection to multimodality treatment. An accurate clinical assessment and prognostic information are needed for selecting the most appropriate treatment approach. Positron emission tomogra- phy (PET) in combination with computed tomography (CT) in a hybrid imaging modality may ameliorate the staging accuracy and add prognostic information. Experiences from specialised centers indicate that PET also may aid to estimate and predict response to preoperative chemotherapy and chemoradiation. This article reca- pitulates the value of PET in the staging and multidisciplinary care of oesophago-gastric cancer. At this stage, it remains unclear if the prognosis of patients can be improved by implementing PET in the management of this disease. Prospective multicenter studies should be performed to validate metabolic cut-off values and to proof the benefit of PET-guided treatment decisions. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2011, 74, 530-535).