Benign esophageal tumors: There are three types according to the histogenesis and lesion sites: (1) intraluminal mucosal type: occurring in the mucosal layer and growing into the lumen, such as polyps and papillomas (2) submucosal type: occurring in the submucosal layer, such as hemangioma (3) extramucosal intramural type: occurring in the intramural layer of the esophageal wall, such as esophageal smooth muscle tumors Esophageal smooth muscle tumors are the most common benign esophageal tumors, more common in males, all located in the intramural layer of the esophageal wall. More than 80% of the tumors are located in the thoracic esophagus below the level of aortic arch, and very few of them can be malignant. Clinical manifestations: more than half of the patients have no significant symptoms, some of them have mild swallowing and choking sensation, progressing slowly or intermittently, which may be accompanied by pain or fullness in the posterior sternum or epigastric region, a few huge tumors may cause airway compression and respiratory symptoms. Diagnosis: The diagnosis is mainly based on barium esophagogram and esophagoscopy. The contrast: the esophagus has focal smooth semilunar indentation or filling defect, clear outline, local mucosa is intact, the shadow of the mass is at an acute angle with the long axis of normal esophagus, the “waterfall sign” is visible on the contralateral mucosa, the “ring sign” is visible on the upper and lower edges, and the proximal esophagus is not dilated. Differential diagnosis: congenital vagal right subclavian artery, acquired saccular aneurysm, mediastinal masses and inflammation, external pressure changes of esophagus caused by enlarged lymph nodes. Treatment: Although esophageal smooth muscle tumor is a benign tumor of the esophagus, in the past, such diseases always underwent large open-heart surgery (standard posterior-lateral incision in the chest wall, about 20-30 cm long) and traditional thoracotomy to remove it, which is traumatic and slow to recover. Since the introduction of thoracoscopy in our department, we have learned from the advanced experience abroad and carried out minimally invasive thoracic surgery (i.e., through 3-4 small incisions of about 1.5cm in the chest wall, treating chest diseases with the help of thoracoscope and special operating instruments to achieve the same therapeutic effect as open-heart surgery) in China at an early stage. The aim is to reduce surgical trauma and postoperative complications, shorten postoperative recovery time and reduce the economic burden of patients. The modern thoracoscopic surgical technique is used to remove benign extra-mucosal tumors by myotomy, and nearly 100 cases of such surgeries have been performed.