CT Texture analysis of oesophageal cancer

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Texture analysis of computed tomography scans for the assessment of oesophageal cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

• IRAS ID

  133977

• Contact name

  Khaled Hamdan

• Contact email

  khaled.hamdan@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  Clinical Investigation Research Unit (CIRU)

• Research summary

  The prognosis of oesophageal cancer is very poor and only 25-30% of patients are alive at 5 years even after surgery. Chemotherapy before surgery promises to improve cure rate but only 50-60% of patients will benefit. The problem is that we do not have a reliable test that allows us to identify patients who are likely to benefit from chemotherapy in which case these patients will be advised to finish 3 cycles of chemotherapy over 9-12 weeks followed by surgery. A test that identifies patients who are unlikely to respond to chemotherapy will dramatically alter treatment plan. These patients will be spared the side effects of chemotherapy and the risk of tumour progression while waiting for surgery. It will also allow us to provide the patient with more accurate information about prognosis and will save money as a
  significant proportion of patients may not require chemotherapy.

  Several techniques including CT, MRI, endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopy have been investigated to provide better prediction of tumour response to preoperative chemotherapy. However, the accuracy of these tests has been disappointingly low. Texture analysis of routinely performed CT scans offers the opportunity to provide information about post chemotherapy tumour changes that cannot be assessed by the naked eye. This new technique has already shown promising results in breast, colorectal and prostatic cancer. The results from textural analysis of CT scans will be compared with tumour response after resection and with patients’ survival. The technique is simple as it relies on a specifically designed software that does not require special training. It is also cost effective as it relies on the assessment of scans that are already performed as part of agreed management protocol.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  13/WM/0261

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Jun 2013

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion