Objective To investigate the effect and clinical value of preoperative chemotherapy on the treatment of metastasized lymph nodes in patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma. Methods We studied the pathological results of primary lesions and lymph nodes of 97 patients with advanced esophageal cancer between 1996 and 1999,62patients were treated by preoperative chemotherapy and 35 patients were treated by surgery only. Results The metastasized rate and degree of mediastinum in preoperative group were 16. 1％ and 4.7％ ,whereas 65.7% and 34.2% in the surgery only group (P＜0. 05);That of abdomen in preoperative group were 25.8％ and 6.6％ ,whereas 48. 6％and 12.0％ in the surgery only group (P＜0.05). Conclusion Preparative chemotherapy is effective not only against the primary lesions but also the metastasized lymph nodes. The lower complete response rate of the metastasized lymph may account for the unsatisfied long-term results. Whole resection of primary lesions and lymph nodes are still very important for a better prognosis even for patients who have a good response for the preoperative chemotherapy.