Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of thoracoscopic and laparoscopic surgery in combination and traditional thoracotomy on pulmonary function and inflammatory response in patients undergoing radical resection of esophageal cancer. Methods A total of 200 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent radical resection were selected as study subjects, and were divided into endoscopy group(thoracoscopic and laparoscopic surgery in combination, n=100)and thoracotomy group(conventional thoracotomy, n=100)according to the different operative methods. The pulmonary function indexes ［ratio of forced expiratory volume to predicted(FEV%), ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to predicted value(FEV₁%), ratio of forced vital capacity value(FVC%), ratio of maximum ventilation volume per minute to predicted value(MVV%)and ratio of vital capacity to predicted value(VC%)］before and after operation and inflammatory factor indexes［interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-8(IL-8), interleukin-10(IL-10)］were compared between the two groups. Results There were no significant differences in operation time and number of lymph nodes dissected - between the two groups(P>0.05), while the amount of bleeding in endoscopy group was significantly less than that in thoracotomy group(P<0.05). There were no significant differences in FEV%, FEV₁%, FVC%, MVV% and VC% between the two groups before operation(P>0.05), and the indicators including FEV%, FEV₁%, FVC%, MVV% and VC% in the endoscopy group at 24 h after operation were higher than those in the control group(P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 between the two groups before operation(P>0.05), and the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 in endoscopy group were lower than those in thoracotomy group at 24 and 48 hours after operation(P<0.05). Conclusion Compared with traditional thoracotomy, thoracoscopic and laparoscopic surgery in combination is more conducive to protecting the lung function of patients undergoing radical esophagectomy, and can reduce the release of inflammatory factors, and has less damage to the body.