If we were to ask which disease is the most tedious to treat in thoracic surgery, esophageal cancer would undoubtedly come out on top. The surgical treatment of esophageal cancer consists of tumor removal and digestive tract reconstruction, which in layman’s terms means that the tumor and the connected esophagus have to be removed first, and then our digestive tract has to be reconnected to ensure that the food we eat from the mouth can enter the digestive system normally. As we know, the esophagus is mainly located in the chest cavity, so we first have to enter the chest cavity to remove the esophagus, and then we need to replace the esophagus with the stomach, which is referred up to the chest cavity or the neck and connected to the stump of the esophagus. And our stomach is in the abdominal cavity, so the surgery also has to go into the abdominal cavity to free the stomach. This would already include two body cavities. In addition to that, our esophageal cancer tends to metastasize in both upper and lower directions, so in order to completely remove the suspected lymph nodes, we recommend removing as much of the esophagus and its surrounding lymph node tissue as possible, so it makes more sense to connect the esophagus to the stomach at the neck. At this point, we again have to open the neck for surgery. Therefore, esophageal cancer surgery needs to involve three human cavities: the thoracic cavity, the abdominal cavity and the neck, which can be complicated, traumatic and time-consuming. In the past, esophageal surgery required a 30 cm incision in the chest, a 20 cm incision in the abdomen, and an incision in the neck. Both the trauma and the cosmetic damage were great. The introduction of lumpectomy minimally invasive surgery has brought a boon to esophageal cancer patients. The basic principle of lumpectomy is to observe the human body structure through a monitor and assist in surgery, so all operations are done through several 1cm-long incisions with minimal human physiological disturbance and quick recovery after surgery. Shanghai Chest Hospital is one of the few units in China that can routinely perform minimally invasive surgery for esophageal cancer, including esophageal resection, gastric freeing and anastomosis, and other key operations can be completed through minimally invasive methods. Patients’ postoperative pain is reduced and recovery is fast, which is usually completed in about 8 days from admission to discharge.