Carcinoma of the esophagus.

We review 10 years' experience with cancer of the thoracic esophagus with an additional minimal six-year observation period of a few surviving patients. Differences must exist in this tumor because therapeutic response, especially irradiation varies in different localities. Very few intrathoracic cancers in our series were resectable. Operation or operation with irradiation produced the only longtime survivors. The number of candidates for resection can probably be increased by preoperative irradiation. Considering the lack of good methods of early detection, the technical problems of the fraility of the tissues involved and their locations, the survival time of the resected patients was surprisingly good. Until entirely new concepts of treatment are introduced, our efforts should be directed toward earlier detection if improved results are to be anticipated.