Despite having the poorest outcomes of almost all solid tumours, not all surgeons are convinced of the need for, or the benefit of, adjunctive treatment for oesophageal cancer. At the heart of the problem seems to lie an overinterpretation of the published work on the role of surgery. Over 30 years ago, Earlam and Cunha-Melo published the first major overview of the role of surgery for oesophageal cancer, which made for grim reading. Of every 100 patients, 58 were explored, 39 underwent resection,...