gms | German Medical Science

Response that is achieved during neoadjuvant treatment is one of the strongest prognostic factors in all multimodal treatment concepts in hemato-oncology. One of the major shortcomings however is the inaccuracy of virtually all established non-invasive techniques in predicting response. As we’ll need to redefine and reassess many of the current multimodal treatment concepts according to the patients classification as a “responder” or a “non-responder”, further improvements in the field of imaging and response-assessment are essential. The lecture will pick up some practical examples where new techniques of response assessment may prove helpful. Another point of discussion is the magnitude of response that should be achieved during a pre-operative treatment phase. Current results in esophageal, gastric and rectal cancer indicate that subtotal remissions are as predictive as microscopically complete tumor remissions with regard to long-term survival. From a translational scientific point of view the most fascinating field is the one of response-prediction by molecular markers. The lecture will point out examples where this field of research is gaining momentum at present.