Esophageal cancer is a very common cancer-like disease, and this disease brings a lot of trouble to many families. 4 common treatment methods of esophageal cancer 1.Surgery Surgery is the preferred treatment method for esophageal cancer. If the patient has good general condition, good heart and lung function reserve and no obvious signs of distant metastasis, surgery can be considered. Generally speaking, cancer in the cervical segment with a length of 3 cm, cancer in the upper thoracic segment with a length of 4 cm and cancer in the lower thoracic segment with a length of 5 cm has a higher chance of removal. However, there are cases where the tumor is not too large but it is closely adherent to major organs, such as aorta and trachea, and cannot be resected. For larger squamous carcinoma, which is estimated to have little chance of resection but the patient’s general condition is good, preoperative radiotherapy can be used first, and surgery can be performed after the tumor is reduced. Contraindications for surgery: poor general condition, cachexia. The patient may have severe cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic or renal insufficiency. Large invasive lesions with obvious signs of invasion and perforation, such as hoarseness or esophagotracheal fistula. Those who have distant metastases. 2.Radiation therapy The combination of radiation and surgery can increase the surgical resection rate and improve the long-term survival rate. After preoperative radiotherapy, it is more appropriate to rest for 3 to 4 weeks before surgery. Metal markers are made at the residual cancer tissues that are not completely excised during surgery, and postoperative radiotherapy is usually started 3 to 6 weeks after surgery. Radiation therapy alone is mostly used for cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer, which is often difficult to operate, has many complications and unsatisfactory efficacy; it can also be used for those who have contraindications to surgery but the lesion is not long and the patient can still tolerate radiotherapy.