Esophageal cancer staging treatment mode Stage I: Surgery is preferred. For those with poor cardiopulmonary function or unwilling to operate, radical radiotherapy is feasible. For completely resected stage I esophageal cancer, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy is not available. Endoscopic mucosal resection is limited to intra-mucosal carcinoma, while sub-mucosal carcinoma should undergo standard esophageal cancer resection. Stage II: Surgery is preferred. If the cardiopulmonary function is poor or unwilling to operate, radical radiotherapy is feasible. For completely resected T2-3N0M0, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy is not available. For patients with completely resected T1-2N1M0, adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery may improve the 5-year survival rate. For esophageal squamous carcinoma, there is no evidence to support postoperative chemotherapy. For esophageal adenocarcinoma, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is an option. Stage III: For patients with T1-2N2M0, T,3N1-2M0 and some T4aN0-2M0 (invading pericardium, diaphragm and pleura), surgery-based combination therapy is currently chosen; for patients with IIIb and IIIc, current preoperative adjuvant therapy followed by surgery can be considered; it is suggested that neoadjuvant radiotherapy (chemotherapy with platinum-containing regimen combined with radiation therapy) can be investigated in hospitals with conditions, compared with Compared with surgery alone, preoperative simultaneous radiotherapy may improve the overall survival rate of patients. Compared with surgery alone, preoperative chemotherapy does not improve overall long-term survival, so preoperative chemotherapy is not recommended; preoperative radiotherapy also does not improve overall survival, but may improve local control and resection rates. Therefore, preoperative radiotherapy can increase the resection rate for esophageal cancer that is not easily resected by surgery due to obvious tumor invasion during preoperative examination. For stage III patients who cannot be operated, the current standard treatment is radiation therapy or simultaneous radiotherapy, and hospitals with conditions can carry out research on simultaneous radiotherapy (chemotherapy with platinum-containing regimen combined with radiation therapy). For the above stage III patients, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy may improve the 5-year survival rate. For esophageal squamous carcinoma, there is not enough evidence to support postoperative chemotherapy. However, postoperative chemotherapy may be considered for patients with N1-2 and those with choroidal aneurysm emboli. For esophageal adenocarcinoma, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is an option. Stage IV: Palliative care is the mainstay with or without chemotherapy, and treatment aims to prolong life and improve quality of life. Palliative treatment mainly includes radiotherapy, endoscopic treatment (including treatment such as esophageal dilatation and esophageal stent), nutritional support and symptomatic treatment such as pain relief.