Objective To study the postoperative recovery of different surgical approaches for patients with cardia cancer.Methods From January 2011 to March 2016,174 cases of patients with cardia cancer were selected and divided into observation group (76 cases) and control group (98 cases).The patients of control group received via thoracic approach surgery,while those of observation group were given abdominal approach surgery.The operationtime,intraoperative blood loss,dissected lymph node numbers,postoperative hospital stay,hospitalization expense,positive rate of surgical margin,radical operation rate,perioperative mortality,pulmonary complications,operative incision infection rate and anastomotic fistula rate of two groups were compared.Results There were no significant differences of intraoperative blood loss and operation time,positive rate of surgical margin,radical operation rate,perioperative mortality,postoperative pneumothorax rate,hydropneumothorax rate,pyothorax rate,operative incision infection rate and anastomotic fistula rate between two groups (P ＞ 0.05).There were significant differences of the dissected lymph node numbers,postoperative hospital stay,hospitalization expense,postoperative hydrothorax rate,postoperative pneumonia rate,total pulmonary complications rate and total complications rate between two groups (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Abdominal approach for patients with cardia cancer,compared to via thoracic approach surgery,presents advantages in terms of dissected lymph nodes,postoperative hospital stay,hospitalization expense,postoperative pneumonia rate,hydrothrax rate,total pulmonary complications rate and total postoperative complications rate.