Abstract: Objective : To sunimarize the clinicopathologic characteristics and the experience in treatment of primaiy small cell carcinoma (SCC) of esophagus, and to investigate the factors influencing patients" survival. Methods: 36 cases SCC of the esophagus were observed macroscopically and microscopically. 22 cases undergone surgical Lreatnient were analysed retrospectively. Results : under microscope, two types of SCC, i.e. oat-type(16/36) and non oat-type (20/36) were divided. According to The New TNM Classification in Esophageal Careinoma(1997), within the 22 cases undergone surgical treatment, 2 cases were in stage 1,10 cases in stage II and the other 10 cases in stage IE. The 1, 2, 3 and 5-year survival rate of them were 63.6%, 38.8%, 13.3%, 9.0% respectively, average 16 months. Conclusions: SCC of esophagus is a kind of highly malignant neuroendocrine tumor with poor prognosis. The TNM staging and modality of operation are the important influencing factors in long-term survivals. The survival term may be prolonged by early detection of the SCC, early surgical intervention and adjuvant mnlti-modality treatments.