SURGICAL TREATMENT OF CARCINOMA OF THE ESOPHAGUS

The importance of carcinoma of the esophagus becomes evident when it is realized that in New York city alone it accounts for 3.5 per cent of all deaths from cancer (Watson). In the United States registration area the incidence of cancer of the esophagus increased almost 100 per cent from 1915 to 1932. Clairmont, in 1924, estimated that about 25,000 persons die of this disease annually in Europe. With the realization that cancer of the esophagus is assuming increasing importance from the standpoint of numerical incidence and with the rapid strides being made in the fields of anesthesia and thoracic surgery has come an ever increasing interest in the radical surgical treatment of this disease, based on the present day conception of surgical treatment of cancer in general. It is, however, only in recent years that encouraging progress has been noted. Although at present operative treatment of cancer of the