Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34286823›Full record

SynthesisDiseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus2022

Clinical utility and applicability of circulating tumor DNA testing in esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Swathikan Chidambaram, Sheraz R Markar

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Evaluation of tumor regression by neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens for esophageal adenocarcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2023
    Pooled it
  5. Article
  6. Observational
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  8. Assessment of methylated BCAT1 and IKZF1 circulating tumor DNA as a prognostic biomarker in esophagogastric adenocarcinomas.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2026
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Swathikan ChidambaramDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Sheraz R MarkarDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8650-2017

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Esophageal cancer is an aggressive malignancy with a relatively poor prognosis even after multimodality therapy. Currently, patients undergo a series of investigations that can be invasive and costly or pose secondary risks to their health. In other malignancies, liquid biopsies of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are used in clinical practice for diagnostic and surveillance purposes. This systematic review summarizes the latest evidence for the clinical applicability of ctDNA technology in esophageal cancer. A systematic review of the literature was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Review and Scopus databases. Articles were evaluated for the use of ctDNA for diagnosis and monitoring of patients with esophageal cancer. Quality assessment of studies was performed using the QUADAS-2 tool. A meta-analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of sequencing methodologies. We included 15 studies that described the use of ctDNA technology in the qualitative synthesis and eight studies involving 414 patients in the quantitative analysis. Of these, four studies assessed its utility in cancer diagnosis, while four studies evaluated its use for prognosis and monitoring. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for diagnostic studies were 71.0% (55.7-82.6%) and 98.6% (33.9-99.9%), while the pooled sensitivity and specificity for surveillance purposes were 48.9% (29.4-68.8%) and 95.5% (90.6-97.9%). ctDNA technology is an acceptable method for diagnosis and monitoring with a moderate sensitivity and high specificity that is enhanced in combination with current imaging methods. Further work should demonstrate the practical integration of ctDNA in the diagnostic and surveillance clinical pathway.

Indexed as

Circulating Tumor DNAEsophageal NeoplasmsHumansPrognosisSensitivity and SpecificityCirculating Tumor DNAesophageal adenocarcinomaesophageal canceresophageal squamous cell cancer

Identifiers

PMID34286823
PMCPMC8832526

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.