Abstract： Objective To evaluate the clinical value of regular and dual-time-point 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-CT(FDG PET/CT)imaging for recurrence and metastasis in esophageal carcinoma(EC)after curative esophagectomy. Methods A retrospective study was done on 48 patients received curative esophagectomy, who underwent FDG PET/CT scans to detect doubtful recurrent or metastatic lesions. The diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET-CT was assessed with the help of pathological findings as well as clinical or follow-up data. Using Fisher's Exact Test from SPSS 11.5 to analyze the data.Results Of the 48 patients, after a median follow-up of 21.5 months, 61 sites of local and regional recurrence or metastasis were finally confirmed in 34 patients. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of regular FDG PET/CT imaging in detecting recurrence of all sites were 93.44%, 74.29% and 86.46%respectively. The specificity and accuracy of local recurrence and regional metastasis were 57.14% ,78.95% and 77.78% ,84.62%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of dual-time-point FDG PET/ CT imaging in detecting local and regional recurrence(96.97% ,96.00% and 96.55%)were higher than those of regular FDG PET/CT(90.90%, 72.00% and 82.76%)and there were significant differences of specificity and accuracy(P = 0.049, P = 0.029). Conclusions Regular FDG PET/CT imaging is highly effective in detecting recurrence and metastasis in EC patients after curative esophagectomy despite the low specificity and accuracy. Dual-time-point FDG PET/CT imaging can elevate the specificity and accuracy.