Research progress on prediction of early response to chemoradiotherapy of esophageal cancer by multimodal imaging and radiomics

Conventional imaging techniques and gastrointestinal endoscopy cannot accurately predict the early clinical efficacy of chemoradiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer, whereas the functional imaging of PET-CT, MRI-DWI and radiomics can reflect the functional metabolism of the tumors prior to the morphological changes, which can compensate for the limitations of conventional diagnostic methods. In this article, the current application of imaging techniques in predicting the early response of chemoradiotherapy for esoohageal cancer was reviewed. (authors)