Abstract: From 1976 to 1990, 60 patients with esophageal carcinoma were treated by radiotherapy.The lengths of their foci were all more than Scm,and the median length was 9.6cm.The diagnoses were based on pathological and cytological examinations.These patients received 10 Gy in 5 frac-lions per week to total doses of 50-78Gy.The immediate response rates of all patients were as fol-low:marked response:23% (14/60, partial response; 60% (36/60) and no-response:17% (10/16).The 1-,3-ands-year survival rates were 5500 (33/60),16.6%(10/60) and 6.25% (3/48),respectively.