Role of CT examination in assessing the response of oesophageal carcinoma to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The oesophageal carcinoma is a devastating disease with very poor prognosis. In many cases surgery with previous radiation or chemotherapy are used in treatment. The assessment of the oesophageal tumour response to chemotherapy is very important, because early detection of tumour response to antineoplastic therapy may improve the value of such an approach by allowing continuation of treatment in those likely to benefit while preventing the administration of ineffective and potentially harmful therapy in non-responders. The CT evaluation is a reliable method of monitoring patients during chemotherapy due to oesophageal carcinoma. It can detect reduction of the infiltration thickness, size of enlarged lymph nodes as well as reduction of the angle of aortic infiltration. Unlike in oesophageal ultrasonography, even highly stenotic tumours can be fully assessed in CT.