INTRODUCTION: Esophageal neoplasm is the eighth more prevalent cancer in the general population, with high letality in spite of improvements in surgery in the last decades. The squamous cell carcinoma have higher prevalence in many countries and also in Brazil. Therefore, treatment strategies become target of study in many reference centres around the world. AIM: To identify the new aspects of the neo-adjuvant therapy in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: Bibliography review of scientific papers available at Medline and Cohchrane Database crossing the following headings: esophageal neoplasms, surgery, drug therapy, radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: Neo-adjuvant therapy is increasingly employed in patients with carcinoma of the esophagus in efforts to improve survival and quality of life of these patients.
Esophageal neoplasms; Surgery; Drug therapy; Radiotherapy