Published in:
01-01-2014 | Original Article
Tumor blood flow change measured by CT perfusion during chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for monitoring response and predicting survival in patients with esophageal cancer
Published in: Esophagus | Issue 1/2014
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Background
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether computed tomography perfusion (CTP) can evaluate the biological change during chemoradiation therapy (CRT) and the survival of patients with esophageal cancer after CRT.
Methods
Thirty-two consecutive patients (31 men, 1 woman; mean age 65.9 years) with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma underwent CTP before and 2–3 weeks after CRT. The perfusion data were analyzed using software based on the deconvolution method. We investigated the relationship between the changes of CTP parameters during CRT, the response to CRT and outcome.
Results
This study included 22 clinical responders and 10 non-responders. Post-CRT blood flow (BF) was significantly lower than pre-CRT (P = 0.0003). BF in responders decreased significantly greater than in non-responders (P < 0.0001). Patients whose tumors showed a greater reduction (greater than 15 % reduction) in BF during CRT survived significantly longer than those with lower tumor BF reduction (P = 0.03).
Conclusions
Substantial BF change may help to evaluate the response to CRT and survival in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.