Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39885424›Full record

SynthesisBMC medical imaging2025

Staging of esophageal cancer using PET/MRI: a systematic review with head-to-head comparison.

Alisa Mohebbi, Saeed Mohammadzadeh, Zahra Moradi, Afshin Mohammadi, Hossein Poustchi, Seyed Mohammad Tavangar

Abstract readSystematic ReviewComparative Study
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC medical imaging, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Impact of PET/CT imaging on target volume delineation and radiotherapy planning in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Updated evidence on the accuracy ofQuantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026
    Review
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

6 authors.

Alisa MohebbiUniversal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
Saeed MohammadzadehUniversal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
Zahra MoradiUniversal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
Afshin MohammadiDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Science, Urmia, Iran.
Hossein PoustchiDigestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Mohammad TavangarDepartment of Pathology, Dr. Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. tavangar@ams.ac.ir.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo evaluate the staging performance of positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) for confirmed esophageal cancer based on the TNM classification system as well as compare it to other alternative modalities (e.g., endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), computed tomography (CT), MRI, and PET/CT) in a full head-to-head manner.

methodsProtocol was pre-registered a priori at ( http://osf.io/6qj5m/ ). We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library for studies until September 10, 2024. The risk of bias was assessed using Modified Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) and Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-Comparative (QUADAS-C). The classification performance of PET/MRI in T, N, and M staging of esophageal cancer and resectability status were evaluated and compared to other relative modalities. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) was used for certainty evaluation.

resultsNine studies were included with 245 esophageal cancer patients. For T, N, and M staging, PET/MRI showed 9.1%, 2.0%, and 10.7% upstaging than the histopathological evaluation while these numbers were 19.4%, 12.4%, and 5.3% for downstaging. For direct comparison with PET/CT, PET/MRI showed 0.7% and 5.6% less downstaging and upstaging for N staging and 2.5% and 4.0% for M staging. As for predicting resectability status, pre-ADCmean and post-ADCmean were promising, unlike other parameters (i.e., ΔADCmean, pre-SUVmax, post-SUVmax, and ΔSUVmax).

conclusionWith protocol adjustments, PET/MRI might be utilized in the future for preoperative staging of esophageal cancer. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: N/A.

Indexed as

Esophageal NeoplasmsMagnetic Resonance ImagingPositron-Emission TomographyHumansMultimodal ImagingNeoplasm StagingEsophageal cancerMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI)PET/MRPET/MRIPositron emission tomography (PET)

Identifiers

PMID39885424
PMCPMC11783729

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.