IN SPITE of the gratifying progress which has been made in the surgical treatment of carcinoma of the esophagus during the past few decades, the incidence of resectability and consequent curability remains pitifully low. This is reflected by the recorded experience of numerous observers. Thus, in a collected series of 794 cases compiled in 1947, exploration was done in only 26.3% and resection in only 14.5%1Our own experience at that time with 200 cases was not much different.1Although somewhat higher figures have since been recorded, they are not strikingly better. In a collected series of 1,377 cases reported during the past five years, the incidence of resectability was 32%.2Moreover, in a high proportion of these cases with resection the operative procedure was admittedly not curative, since the lesion had already extended beyond the confines of the esophagus. The results obtained for lesions involving the