Abstract： Objective To study the effect of radiotherapy and prognostic factors for patients with post-operative loco-regional recurrence of esophageal carcinoma. Methods From 2000 to 2005,91 patients with esophageal carcinoma who developed post-operative loco-regional recurrence were analyzed retrospectively. The interval between surgery and recurrence was 1 -35 months, with a median interval of 11.1 months. There were 4 patients with anastomosis relapse, 6 with anastomosis and mediastinal lymph nodes relapse,4 with abdominal lymph node relapse, 20 with supra-clavicular lymph node relapse, 34 with mediastinal lymph node relapse, and 23 with mediastinal and supra-clavicular lynph node relapse. There were 56 and 35 patients who received conventional and three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy respectively, with a total radiation dose of 50 -70 Gy. Sixty-eight patients received adjuvant chemotherapy.Results The follow-up rate was 95%. The 1-,2-and 3-year overall survival rates were 52%, 20% and 14%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the recurrence time (P = 0. 001), postoperative stage (P =0. 000), radiation dose (P =0. 001) ,overall response rate (P =0. 000) ,T stage (P =0. 028), and N stage (P = 0. 003) were related with prognosis. Multivariate analysis showed that the recurrence time (P =0. 014), postoperative stage (P = 0. 006), radiation dose (P = 0. 009), overall response rate (P = 0. 000)were independent prognostic factors for survival. Conclusions Radiotherapy may improve the survival of esophageal carcinoma patients with postoperative recurrence. Patients with long recurrence-free time, early stage, high response rates, and radiation dose of higher than 60 Gy have better prognosis.