[The esophageal axis in the preoperative evaluation of the operability of cancer of the thoracic esophagus].

The length and the esophageal axis, studied by barium swallow, were examined in 30 patients with carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus. All these patients underwent later esophageal resection. An histologic examination was performed in all cases and a correlation was established between these preoperative and postoperative parameters. We have noticed that the presence of abnormalities in the esophageal axis allowed us to predict that the cancer infiltrated markedly through the adventitia in 85.7% of cases. If a resection is performed in these cases, it cannot be a curative resection. On the opposite, when the axis showed no abnormality, 81.2% of the cancers were confined to the wall, permitting then a curative resection. Tumor length did not seem to be an adequate parameter on establishing the depth of infiltration in the esophageal wall. Finally there was no correlation between lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion.