Purpose of the guidelines
The primary objective of these guidelines is to provide general clinicians with information that would guide them to make informed choices of the available diagnosis/treatment strategies for esophageal cancer (intended for malignant esophageal tumors of epithelial origin, not for any other non-epithelial malignant tumors of the esophagus or metastatic esophageal malignant tumors). Furthermore, these guidelines are also intended as an aid for healthcare professionals other than the physicians, patients, and patients’ family members, to obtain an understanding of the fundamental principles of the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer. These guidelines are intended to allow physicians to undertake diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer by sharing the information contained in the guidelines and promote mutual understanding among the healthcare professionals, patients, and their family members.

Esophageal cancer practice guidelines 2017 edited by the Japan Esophageal Society: part 1