From 1985 to 1988, we have resected 203 cases of the thoracic esophageal cancer with right thoracotomy. Those 203 cases were classified as R3 (bilateral cervical, thoracic and abdominal node dissection), R2 + alpha (left cervical, thoracic and abdominal nodes dissection) and R2 (thoracic and abdominal node dissection) based on preoperative staging. The background of R3 mainly contained Iu cases, advanced cases, positive cases of upper mediastinal metastasis, and that of R2 mostly contained high aged and risk cases, though this group showed low LN metastasis. The incidence of postoperative complications were higher R3 greater than R2 greater than R2 + alpha in order. Pneumonia had no relationship to neck dissection. Recurrent nerve palsy was recognized in R3 group about 16%. Operative mortality mostly belong to high aged group over 70 y.or., noncurative cases and R3 group. The survival rate of C greater than 0 resected cases with right thoracotomy after 1985 showed some improvement compared with the cases of standard R2 dissection by right thoracotomy from 1980-1984. It showed no difference of the curative survival curve among R3, R2 + alpha and R2 groups. Thus, it is effective to improve the survival rate of resected esophageal cancer with our indication based on preoperative staging.