Objective To observe the relationship between the characteristics of endoscopic ultrasonography and the difficulty of esophageal cancer surgery

and to evaluate the application value of preoperative endoscopic ultrasonography in guiding the selection of patients with esophagectomy by video assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Methods Clinical data of 255 patients admitted into our hospital from July 2014 to July 2017 who underwent preoperative endoscopic ultrasonography and thoracoscopic esophageal cancer surgery were retrospectively analyzed

and the relationship between the characteristics of endoscopic ultrasonography and the resection rate and difficulty of thoracoscopic esophageal cancer were compared.Results The accuracy rate of endoscopic ultrasonography for esophageal cancer T staging was 68.36%

and it was 59.03% for N staging.According to the endoscopic ultrasonography

there were 30 patients at stage T1

43 patients at stage T2

180 patients at stage T3

and 2 patients at stage T4

and the resection rates of total thoracoscopic surgery were 93.33%

93.02%

85%

and 50%

respectively;there were 202 patients at N0 stage

with the resection rate of 86.63%

and there were 49 patients at N1 stage

with the resection rate of 87.75%;there were 4 cases could not accurately judge the N stage(Nx).The operative time of patients with regional lymph node metastasis was significantly longer than those without regional lymph node metastasis(P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in intraoperative blood loss and operative time among different groups corresponding to T staging(P>0.05).Conclusion Endoscopic ultrasonography can more accurately determine the TN stage of esophageal cancer before the operation

providing an important basis for preoperative evaluation.