Pneumo-CT assessing response to neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer: Imaging-pathological correlation

Pneumo-computed tomography (PnCT) is a technique primarily developed and used to study stenotic lesions of the esophagus, gastroesophageal junction and stomach for pre-surgical planning. It helps to define both upper and lower borders of neoplasms located in the aforementioned areas. It achieves maximum lumen distension with CO2 highlighting thickened areas of the esophageal wall, thus allowing an accurate quantification of their extents. Although there are other alternatives for distension (oral contrast agents, water and effervescent granules), they may be suboptimal. Patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer have a dismal prognosis despite surgical resection. Therefore, neoadjuvant treatment strategies using radiation therapy and chemotherapy were developed to improve survival. Neoadjuvant therapy improves esophageal tumor prognosis in a substantial proportion of patients, and the use of imaging techniques is mandatory to detect their response. PnCT combined with virtual endoscopy and multiplanar reconstruction enhances morphologic details in esophageal cancer, and thus would allow an improved assessment of response to neoadjuvant treatment. Therefore, more information could be provided to assess the efficacy of pre-surgical treatment. We describe the potential use of PnCT to assess the response to neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer with an imaging pathologic correlation.