Shi Liqiang, Wang Xipeng, Li Chengqiang, Bai Yaya, Zhang Yajie, Li Hecheng
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai, 200025, China.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
Med Oncol. 2025 May 27;42(7):221. doi: 10.1007/s12032-025-02775-5.
Esophageal cancer ranks among the most lethal malignancies globally, with China accounting for more than half of worldwide esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cases. Late-stage diagnosis frequently precludes surgical intervention, contributing to poor outcomes. While precise clinical assessment is essential for treatment planning, therapeutic responses and prognosis exhibit substantial inter-patient heterogeneity, underscoring the urgent need for reliable biomarkers to enhance prognostic accuracy and guide personalized therapeutic strategies. Radiomics, an emerging field that extracts high-dimensional features from medical images, provides non-invasive approaches to improve diagnostic accuracy, predict survival, monitor adverse events, detect recurrence, and optimize treatment strategies. Radiomics has shown promising potential in the modern management of ESCC. Here, we review the critical contributions of radiomics to ESCC research and clinical practice, examining its workflow, applications, strengths, and limitations. Radiomics represents a compelling frontier with substantial potential to advance precision medicine for ESCC patients.
食管癌是全球最致命的恶性肿瘤之一，中国的食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）病例占全球一半以上。晚期诊断常常使手术干预无法进行，导致预后不良。虽然精确的临床评估对于治疗规划至关重要，但治疗反应和预后在患者之间存在很大差异，这凸显了迫切需要可靠的生物标志物来提高预后准确性并指导个性化治疗策略。放射组学是一个从医学图像中提取高维特征的新兴领域，它提供了非侵入性方法来提高诊断准确性、预测生存率、监测不良事件、检测复发以及优化治疗策略。放射组学在ESCC的现代管理中已显示出有前景的潜力。在此，我们回顾放射组学对ESCC研究和临床实践的关键贡献，审视其工作流程、应用、优势和局限性。放射组学是一个极具吸引力的前沿领域，具有推动ESCC患者精准医学发展的巨大潜力。
