This is a study of esophageal resection for cancer of the esophagus in 40 patients, 34 of which were diagnosed as squamous carcinoma and 6 as adenocarcinoma excluding the cardias, tumor localization includes cervical esophagus in one case and all the rest in the thoracic esophagus, 2 in the proximal third, 25 in the middle third and 12 in the distal third. With regard to surgical approach, 11 were treated with total esophagectomy (7 Akiyama, 4 transhiatal resection) and of the 29 treated, of subtotal esophagectomy, 24 were according to the Lewis technique and 5 through a left-sided thoracotomy. Reconstruction was done with stomach in 33 cases six with colon and one with jejunum. Complications were detected in 52.5% the patients with pleuro-pulmonary being the most frequent, anastomotic dehiscence occurred in 5 cases (4 of which were chose manually). The operative mortality rate was 5% and the actuarial survival at 5 years was at 28.4%.