Abstract: Neoadjuvant treatment is a critical part of comprehensive treatment of esophageal cancer and can achieve survival benefit for patients.Nowadays amounts of clinical trials related to neoadjuvant treatment have got promising significant outcomes,but there are still many issues that need to be resolved.This manuscript focused on the clinical trials of preoperative chemoradiotherapy,chemotherapy and emerging immunotherapy in esophageal squamous carcinoma patients.Some topical issues such as the efficacy of different treatment regimens,comparison between different neoadjuvant therapy and the choice of timing of surgery after neoadjuvant treatment would be reviewed and summarized.

Key words: esophageal tumor, squamous cell carcinoma, neoadjuvant therapy, immunotherapy