Once the clinical and pathological diagnosis of esophageal cancer is clear, reasonable treatment selection is a crucial step, especially for patients who are treated for the first time. It is not only related to whether the treatment is reasonable and effective, but also a basic guarantee for patients to obtain better quality of life and long-term survival after treatment. Treatment methods of esophageal cancer 1.Surgery; 2.Radiation therapy; 3.Chemotherapy; 4.Combination therapy. Including preoperative radiotherapy + surgery, preoperative radiotherapy, chemotherapy + surgery, surgery + postoperative radiotherapy, surgery + postoperative chemotherapy, etc. 5.Other treatments. Including Chinese medicine treatment, interventional treatment, Y-knife or light knife treatment, etc. First of all, surgery is still the most effective treatment at present, and its overall 5-year survival rate can reach more than 30%. For example, the 5-year survival rate of a group of early esophageal cancer patients in Linzhou, Henan Province is over 90% after surgery. Secondly, it is radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the past, esophageal cancer was thought to be insensitive to chemotherapy, but with the progress of chemotherapy drug development, the chemotherapy effect of esophageal cancer has been significantly improved. However, at present, the 5-year survival rate of radiotherapy or chemotherapy alone does not exceed 10%. For some mid-stage or mid-to-late stage patients, preoperative radiotherapy or radiotherapy or chemotherapy + surgery can be chosen. For patients with esophageal cancer who are not suitable for surgical treatment for various reasons, radiotherapy should be chosen first. For patients with distant metastases, such as lung metastases, liver metastases, brain metastases, etc., chemotherapy or chemotherapy + radiotherapy should be chosen. For patients who can no longer receive surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, corresponding symptomatic treatment can be given to alleviate the symptoms. Suggestions for patients to choose treatment modality I. Understand the disease. Basically understand the site, size (or length), relationship with surrounding tissues (whether there is external invasion or not) and whether there is distant metastasis of esophageal cancer. Second, understand yourself. Have an understanding of your basic physical condition, i.e. whether you have a history of heart, lung, liver, kidney and more serious blood diseases or endocrine system and other important organ diseases, such as serious heart disease (coronary heart disease, wind heart disease, etc.), low lung function, liver cirrhosis, kidney insufficiency, serious hypertension and diabetes; whether you have a history of other surgeries and drug allergy and whether you are a senior patient, etc. Third, understand the treatment modalities and risks. Have an understanding of the various treatment modalities and their advantages and disadvantages. IV. Comprehensive assessment and rational selection. Patients should make a comprehensive and integrated assessment of the above “three understandings” under the guidance of a professional physician to make a scientific, reasonable, systematic and feasible treatment plan. The esophagus starts from the hypopharynx and is divided into cervical, upper thoracic, middle thoracic and lower thoracic segments according to its anatomical location. The cervical segment refers to the entrance of esophagus to the entrance of thorax, the lower boundary is about 18cm from the incisor; the upper thoracic segment refers to the entrance of thorax to the level of tracheal bifurcation, about 18-24cm from the upper incisor; the middle thoracic segment refers to the bifurcation of trachea to the junction of esophagus and stomach, 25-32cm from the upper incisor. tumors can occur in all segments of esophagus, but the middle segment is the most common, the lower segment is the second most common, and the upper segment is the least common. Other rare pathological types include: undifferentiated carcinoma (accounting for 1%-2%, with high malignancy, fast growth and poor prognosis); basal cell-like squamous cell carcinoma; adenosquamous carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma. The rare ones are malignant melanoma, malignant lymphoma originating from esophagus, sarcoma-like carcinoma and smooth muscle sarcoma. The staging of esophageal cancer can be divided into early, intermediate and advanced stages. According to international clinicopathological staging, it can also be divided into stage O, I, IIa, IIb, III and IVa and IVb, among which stage O and I are the traditional early esophageal cancer. 3.Understand the rule of spreading and metastasis of esophageal cancer Spreading mainly penetrates the esophageal wall and invades the neighboring organs directly. Metastasis includes lymph node metastasis and hematogenous metastasis, among which lymph node metastasis is the main way of esophageal cancer metastasis.