Objective To investigate the expression of PTEN and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in esophageal carcinoma and the relationship between their expression.Methods The expression of PTEN and VEGF were detected using immunohistochemical S-P method.Results Among 80 cases of esophageal carcino- ma,31 showed positive staining of PTEN (38.75%),while all 20 case of normal mucosa showed positiva staimng of PTEN.The expression level of PTEN in highly differentiated squamous carcinoma was higher than that low differ- entiated squamous carcinoma.Also,the expression of PTEN was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (r=0.61,P<0.01)and differentiation(r=0.57.P<0.05).In 80 cases of esophageal carcinoma,57(70.13%) were of positive staining of VEGF,while in 20 of normal esophageal mucosa,only 3 showed positive staining of VEGF.The expression of VEGF was markedly correlated with infiltrative deepness(r=0.49,P<0.05)and lymph node metastasis(r=0.55,P<0.05)and differentiation(r=0.48,P<0.05).Conclusion Combined detection of PTEN and VEGF maybe helpful to evaluate prognosis and infiltrative capability of esophageal carcinoma,with sig- nificant importance to the prediction of the prognosis of esophageal carcinoam.