• H Miyata, M Yamasaki, T Makino, M Tatsumi, Y Miyazaki, T Takahashi, Y Kurokawa, S Takiguchi, M Mori, and Y Doki.
• Departments of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
• Br J Surg. 2016 Jan 1; 103 (1): 97-104.

Background[(18) F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET has been used to evaluate the response of primary tumours to neoadjuvant therapy for oesophageal cancer. The clinical significance of the number of PET-positive nodes before and after therapy has not been investigated previously.Methods[(18) F]FDG-PET was performed before and 2-3 weeks after completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to identify the number of PET-positive nodes, and these numbers were assessed in relation to metabolic changes in the primary tumour.ResultsOf 302 patients in total, 90 had no PET-positive nodes, 83 had one, 59 had two and 70 patients had three or more positive nodes before therapy. After treatment, the numbers were: none in 207 patients, one in 59, two in 20 and three or more in 16 patients. The number of PET-positive nodes after treatment was influenced by both the number of PET-positive nodes before therapy and the response to preoperative therapy, and correlated with the number of metastatic lymph nodes. Overall survival was longer in patients who had no PET-positive nodes after treatment than in those who had one or more. Multivariable analysis identified the numbers of PET-positive nodes before and after chemotherapy as independent prognostic factors, together with clinical response, tumour depth and lymph node involvement.ConclusionThe number of PET-positive nodes after treatment correlated with survival in patients with oesophageal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy.© 2015 BJS Society Ltd Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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