Background:Esophageal cancer is a digestive system malignant tumor with high incidence in China. Early diagnosis and treatment are the keys to increase the survival rate of patients with esophageal cancer. Now,applying magnifying endoscopy combined with narrow-band imaging(ME-NBI)for diagnosis of early esophageal cancer has become the hot research spot. Aims:To evaluate the diagnostic value of ME-NBI for early esophageal cancer and its invasive depth. Methods:Consecutive patients with early esophageal cancer or precancerous lesion undergoing conventional white light endoscopy with biopsy and ME-NBI from June 2013 to November 2015 at the Ren Ji Hospital,School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University were collected retrospectively. The findings of ME-NBI and biopsy pathology of conventional white light endoscopy were comparatively analyzed. The accuracy of ME-NBI in diagnosis of invasive depth of early esophageal cancer was evaluated. Results:A total of 49 patients were enrolled. The overall agreement of ME-NBI findings with endoscopic surgical pathology(gold standard)as well as the sensitivity and negative predictive value of ME-NBI for differentiating early esophageal cancer and precancerous lesion were significantly higher than those of biopsy pathology under conventional white light endoscopy[91. 8%(45 / 49)vs. 24. 5%(12 / 49);100%(45 / 45)vs. 17. 8%(8 / 45);100%(3 / 3)vs. 9. 8%(4 / 41),P all < 0. 05]. Total accuracy of ME-NBI for diagnosing the invasive depth of early esophageal cancer was 77. 8%(35 / 45). Conclusions:ME-NBI has good diagnostic value for early esophageal cancer and its depth of invasion. It can be used as an effective modality for clinical diagnosis of early esophageal cancer.