Inaugural Discussions in Cardiothoracic Treatment and Care: Surgery for Esophageal Cancer, November 16, 2012, Boston, MA

•Conduit preparation and its lie are the crucial elements in esophagectomy•Pyloric drainage of some sort is preferred to the use of Botox.•The use and timing of conduit preconditioning remains unanswered.•Significant postoperative reflux is seen in a minority of cases.•Surgery use or not as part of a multimodality treatment package should be decided prior to the inception of therapy.