The eighth edition of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) announced in 2017 the new staging of esophageal cancer, focusing on the prognostic significance of accurate staging and lymph node metastasis before treatment of esophageal carcinoma, the rationality of early tumor therapy, and the importance of induction therapy. The modified 2017 edition of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, based on above contents matching UICC/AJCC eighth edition of the new staging of esophageal cancer, added preoperative clinical staging to guide the selection of treatment, and re-defined the indications of endoscopic resection and operation for early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, meanwhile emphasized once again the importance of preoperative induction therapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. While there are still many pendent problems that need to be explored further, the knowledge of the law of progression in esophageal cancer and the factors related to prognosis, launching targeted researches for solving practical problems, and the emphasis of standardized diagnosis and treatment are the basic strategies to improve the efficacy of esophageal carcinoma.

Esophageal neoplasms; TNM staging; Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment; Union International Cancer Control (UICC); American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC); National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)