Yu J, et al. - Considering the necessity for defining the clinical target volume for postoperative radiotherapy for thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (TESCC), researchers mapped metastatic lymph nodes (LNMs) in a CT-based atlas and drew the postoperative radiotherapy target area. Inclusion of 69 TESCC patients with first recurrent regional LNMs after esophagectomy was done. They mapped 179 LNMs onto standard axial CT images. Ninety-seven percent of metastases in the upper segment of thoracic esophagus, 90% in the middle segment, and 66% in the lower one were observed in the upper-middle mediastinum region (station 1 to 8 M). Upper abdominal region (UAR) relapse in lower TESCC was observed in relation with advanced pathological stage (≥ IIIB). They observed lower cervical para-tracheal LNMs within a 4.3-cm bilaterally expanded area from the midline of the body and a 2.2-cm expanded area from the anterior of vertebral body, from the superior border of the C7, to the inferior border of the first thoracic vertebra. A modified target from the upper border of C7 to the lower border of caudal margin of the inferior pulmonary vein level could cover the high-risk area of TESCC underwent postoperative radiotherapy. For lower TESCC at pathological IIIB stage and higher, an elective irradiation target comprised UAR.