A palliative treatment technique for esophageal carcinoma using endoscopic Nd - YAG laser therapy is described in 10 patients for whom no curative therapy is possible. Tumors ranged in length frorn 5 to 9 cm with a mean 7.2 cm and luminal diameter ranged from 1 to 5 mm with a mean of 2 mm. The mean number of treatments required to remove obstruction was 5.9 (range 3-12) and the time required to archieve successful luminal opening ranged from 6 to 28 days (mean 13.1 days). The mean total energy required was 33601 Joules. In 10 of 11 cases of treatment, clinical, endoscopic, radiographic improvement was noted. One relapse of dyspnea was successfully managed by the same procedure. Tracheoesophageal fistula occurred in 1 of 11 cases of endoscopic laser therapy. The overall results show that the endoscopic laser therapy relieve dysphagia, the most frequent symptom, rapidly and effectively. Endoscopic laser therapy will be an important palliative treatment of esophageal carcinoma.