[Strengthen perioperative multimodality treatment in order to improve long-term outcomes of esophageal cancer].

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the commonest malignances in China.Surgery is the main treatment for ESCC.However,the longterm survival is very poor by surgery alone.Perioperative multimodality treatment,including locally and systemically administrated,preoperatively and postoperatively,has been and will be the standard treatment in terms of improving longterm survival.Base on decades of practice and clinical trials,it is believed that preoperative treatment is better than postoperative treatment,and that chemotherapy plus radiotherapy preoperatively is better than either chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone.Therefore,preoperative radiochemotherapy followed by surgery is the standard treatment and future direction for locally advanced ESCC. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms ;  Perioperative multimodality treatment;  Long-term outcomes