Curative resection of esophageal cancer with a double aortic arch.

Thoracic esophageal cancer with a double aortic arch is extremely rare. We herein report the case of a 63-year-old man with a double aortic arch who underwent an esophagectomy with a three-field lymphadenectomy for cancer in the lower thoracic esophagus. In such cases, it is important to recognize the relationship between the right and left aortic arches and the bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerves (RLNs). We were able to accurately understand the anatomical position of the RLNs using a precedent cervical procedure with partial resection of the manubrium to remove the nodes along the bilateral RLNs.