Prognostic significance of SUV on PET/CT in patients with esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Esophageal cancer is the third most common gastrointestinal malignancy with a poor long-term survival and high mortality. Surgical resection provides the only chance of cure. The tumor-node metastasis stage classification system is a strong prognostic parameter predicting the prognosis. We performed the present meta-analysis to comprehensively review the evidence for use of standardized uptake value (SUV) measured on tumor to predict prognosis of esophageal cancer.