Neoadjuvant strategies with multimodal therapy including chemotherapy and radiation are the standard of care in locally advanced esophageal cancer. The role of immunotherapy in the perioperative management of esophageal cancer is expanding, and adjuvant nivolumab for patients with residual disease following trimodality therapy has been shown to improve disease-free survival. Applications of checkpoint blockade and positron emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in the neoadjuvant setting are under investigation in several clinical trials. We review the perioperative management of locally advanced esophageal cancer and recent evidence exploring the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors and PET in guiding neoadjuvant management.
Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Biomarkers; Esophageal cancer; FDG-PET; Immunotherapy; Neoadjuvant treatment; Squamous cell carcinoma.
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