Predictive factors for success of neo-adjuvant therapy in upper gastrointestinal cancer.

Background: Predicting response to treatment has long been the Holy Grail of clinicians treating patients with upper gastrointestinal malignancy. The widespread use of neoadjuvant therapy for esophageal cancer has provided an added urgency to the issue and at the same time brought success a step closer because accurate response can be determined from analysis of the resected specimen.

Methods: A search was undertaken of the Medline database for text references to neoadjuvant therapy, esophagus, stomach and predicting response.