Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the application value of enhanced CT in the stage and prognosis evaluation of esophageal cancer. A total of 252 cases of esophageal cancer patients were selected for enhanced CT scan with 16-slice CT scanner. The diagnostic accuracy of enhanced CT in the T3 and T4 stages of esophageal cancer was higher than that in the T1 and T2 stages (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the diagnostic accuracy of N0 and N1 stage by enhanced CT in patients with esophageal cancer (P>0.05). During the follow-up to October 2017, the short-term efficacy and 2-year local control rate of patients with homogeneous lymph node density were higher than those of patients with low-density and marginal enhanced internal necrosis; the short-term efficacy and 2-year local control rate of patients with low-density were higher than those of patients with marginal enhanced internal necrosis (P<0.05). The short-term efficacy and 2-year local control rate of patients with regular lymph node margin were higher than those with irregular lymph node margin and obvious invasion (P<0.05). It is suggested that enhanced CT plays an important role in the evaluation of preoperative clinical staging of esophageal cancer patients and prognosis of chemotherapy patients, and has guiding significance for the follow-up treatment of patients.

Key words: enhanced CT, esophageal carcinoma, staging, prognosis