Zou JY, et al. - In view of the association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with the survival in many cancers, researchers examined the prevalence and prognostic value of HBV infection in esophageal cancer. Among the recruited 2,004 consecutive esophageal cancer patients who underwent esophagectomy between 2000 and 2008, 12.6% of patients had HBV infection. Compared to HBsAg-negative patients, those who were HBsAg-positive indicated a significantly higher percentage of early pathological T stage, lower frequency of liver metastasis and extrahepatic metastasis. Findings suggest the independent favorable prognostic value of HBV infection for survival in operable esophageal cancer. Patients with HBsAg-positive vs HBsAg-negative had a favorable DFS and OS.