Background : Controversy exists whether patients with esophageal carcinoma are best managed with classical Ivor Lewis esophagectomy(ILO) as combined thoracic and abdominal approach or transhiatal esophagectomy(THO). The THO approach is known to be superior with respect to operative time, morbidity and mortality, and length of stay, especially at poor pulmonary function patient, but may represent an inferior cancer operation due to inadequate mediastinal clearance compared with ILO. Accordingly, we estimated the THO role at esophageal cancer to compare each operative approach. Material and Method : From January 2002 to December 2007, we performed a retrospective review of all esophagectomies performed at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center; 36 underwent THO, and 11 underwent ILO. Result : There were all men and squamous cell carcinoma but 1 woman at ILO group, 2 women at THO group. There were no significant differences between THO and ILO with age, sex, location of tumor, mean tumor length. There were significant differences at preoperative pulmonary function test(In ILO group, average FEV1 is $2.65{pm}0.6;L/min$ and iIn THO group, average FEV1 is $2.07{pm}0.7;L/min$). The amount of blood transfusion, hospital stay, leak rates and respiratory complication, hospital mortality rate were not significantly different. Conclusion : There was no significant difference in the post-operative complication, hospital mortality rate, long-term survival of patients of both operative method. THO method had lower mobidity and mortality at poor pulmonary function patient than ILO method. Hence, THO is a valid alternative to ILO for patients with poor general condition or expected post-operative respiratory complication.