[The influence of preoperative irradiation on postoperative complications in surgical treatment of carcinoma of the esophagus].

Over a 15 year period, the authors operated upon 650 patients suffering from carcinoma of the oesophagus. Amongst them, 185 underwent pre-operative irradiation. The latter appears to increase the percentage in whom excision was possible. By contrast, the occurence rate of postoperative complications is essentially the same in both groups of patients apart from chylothorax which was more common in the irradiated subjects.