Different alterations in EGFR have been identified in oesophageal cancer, including overexpression, copy number gain, etc.16,38,39 Previous studies found that EGFR overexpression and EGFR gene copy number gain were associated with poor prognosis.10,11 Patients with EGFR overexpression or EGFR gene copy number gain tended to benefit more from EGFR-TKI treatment.15,16 In this study, immunohistochemical analysis confirmed that 51 (56.7%) of 90 patients overexpressed EGFR. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is carcinoma of esophagus.