ReviewJournal of thoracic disease2026
Narrative review: clinical application and challenges of circulating tumor DNA in treatment response evaluation and prognostic prediction for esophageal cancer.
Review in Journal of thoracic disease, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Objective: Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a cornerstone of liquid biopsy with significant potential for non-invasive, dynamic monitoring of tumor burden and molecular characteristics in esophageal cancer (EC). This narrative review aims to synthesize current evidence on the utility of ctDNA in evaluating treatment response and predicting prognosis, and to discuss the associated technical and biological challenges. Methods: A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for relevant studies published between January 2015 and April 2026. Keywords included "circulating tumor DNA", "ctDNA", "esophageal cancer", "prognosis", and "treatment response". Priority was given to clinical studies, meta-analyses, and review articles. Key Content and Findings: Detection technologies, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR)- and next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based methods, continue to evolve. Evidence indicates a strong correlation between ctDNA clearance and pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy. Postoperative ctDNA positivity is consistently associated with increased recurrence risk and shortened survival. Specific mutations (e.g., Conclusions: ctDNA analysis is a powerful tool for prognostication and response monitoring in EC. Future integration with multi-omics data, radiomics, and artificial intelligence (AI) promises to enhance its clinical utility. Overcoming current hurdles through standardization and technological innovation is essential for its routine clinical adoption.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.