Nodal status is best predictor of outcome after neoadjuvant therapy for esophageal cancer

The number of lymph nodes that contain evidence of cancer is the best predictor of the effectiveness of adding chemotherapy and radiation to a treatment plan prior to surgery in individuals with oesophageal cancer, according to a study published last month in the Annals of Surgery. The authors say their finding is particularly important because the focus of recent pathological studies of response to neoadjuvant therapies has been on the primary tumour rather than nodal sites.