title: Novel imaging strategies for upper gastrointestinal tract cancers.
abstract: Accurate pretherapeutic imaging is the cornerstone of all cancer treatment. Unfortunately, modern imaging modalities have several unsolved problems and limitations. The differentiation between inflammation and cancer infiltration, false positive and false negative findings as well as lack of confirming biopsies in suspected metastases may have serious negative consequences in cancer patients. This review describes some of these problems and challenges the use of conventional imaging by suggesting new combined strategies that include selective use of confirming biopsies and complementary methods to detect microscopic cancer dissemination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Upper GI Section and HPB Center, Odense University Hospital, Sdr. Boulevard, DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael Bau
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mortensen
mesh_terms: D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D061765:Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration; D019160:Endosonography; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
keywords: GEJ cancer; esophageal cancer; gastric cancer; imaging; pancreatic cancer; review; staging