Preoperative neoadjuvant therapy has become a hot topic in the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer (EC) in recent years. Accumulated evidences have demonstrated that neoadjuvant therapy combined with surgery could significantly improve the survival of patients with locally advanced EC compared with the surgery alone. The importance of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) has been widely recognized and included in the guidelines. For locally advanced EC, especially for esophageal adenocarcinoma, both nCT and nCRT can significantly prolong the survival of patients than the surgery alone. Currently, whether the supplement of radiotherapy can bring more benefits to patients compared with nCT alone remains a hot topic. Besides, it is generally believed that the operation should be performed at 2-8 weeks after neoadjuvant therapy, whereas the optimal time interval remains debated. In this article, the research progress and existing problems in the preoperative neoadjuvant treatment of locally advanced EC were summarized.

Eesophageal neoplasms/neoadjuvant therapy; Eesophageal neoplasms/neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Eesophageal neoplasms/neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy