Combined pretherapeutic endoscopic and laparoscopic ultrasonography may predict survival of patients with upper gastrointestinal tract cancer

摘要

We greatly appreciate professor Hottenrott's interest in our manuscript and the fact that he shares our concern regarding the quality and accuracy of the current prether-apeutic imaging technology for patients with upper gastrointestinal tract cancer (UGIC). Professor Hottenrott correctly identifies the central problem of comparing different imaging strategies in terms of their ability to select patients for optimal treatment, thus predicting survival, and improving outcome.