FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- Positron emission tomography (PET) accurately identifies positive metabolic responses to chemotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer and helps doctors tailor treatment, says a German study.

"This is the first study to apply PET results from early metabolic response assessment to clinical decision-making in the treatment of common solid tumors," Ken Herrmann, a resident in the department of nuclear medicine at Technical University in Munich, said in a prepared statement.

"The outcome for metabolic responders turned out to be remarkably favorable compared to metabolic non-responders. Our results showed that PET helps select patients who are benefiting from chemotherapy. Based on our early response assessment, the course is set for tailoring multimodality treatment on the basis of tumor biology."

Herrmann added that PET-response-guided treatment also "helped circumvent the administration of inefficient chemotherapy to patients with no metabolic response, without compromising their outcome."

In the United States, more than 14,000 people are expected to die from esophageal cancer this year, and more than 15,000 new cases will be diagnosed, according to background information in a news release about the study.

The study was presented this week at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's annual meeting, in Washington, D.C.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about esophageal cancer.