[Reoperation for the local recurrence of esophageal cancer]

Survivals of the esophageal cancer patients underwent esophagectomy is becoming well. However, the 5-year survival rate after esophagectomy in Japan is 50.2% according to the examination by Japan Esophageal Society. The most reason of cancer death is disease recurrence. Most of recurrent lesions can't be removed by surgical procedures because of the various degrees of the disease progressions, whereas there must be a few cases that the curability is acquired by surgery. There are few evidences about the efficacy of reoperations for recurrent lesions after esophagectomy. Therefore, the indication of the surgical therapies for the recurrent lesions after radical esophagectomy should be carefully decided after due consideration about the status of the recurrent lesion and the patient's general condition. Now in this article, we will give an outline of the surgeries for the recurrent lesions, especially about lymph node recurrence.