Thirty-five patients with nonmetastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus were treated with chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil, cisplatin) and concomitant split-course radiation therapy. All of the patients presented with dysphagia. Treatment consisted of two courses of chemotherapy with 5-FU (1 g/m2/day in continuous infusion for 5 days [days 1 to 5 and days 29 to 33] ) and cisplatin (70 mg/m2 intravenous bolus at days 2 and 30). Radiation therapy was concomitant in two courses delivering 20 Gy in 5 days (days 1 to 5 and days 29 to 33). On the first day of treatment, endoscopic peroral dilation or Nd-YAG laser therapy was usually carried out. At the end of the treatment, all of the patients were capable of oral nutrition. Histoendoscopic confirmation was made 8 weeks after the beginning of the therapy. Twenty-five of the 35 patients had a complete response with negative biopsy findings. There was only one serious complication (fatal myelosuppression) in the only patient who received more than two courses of chemotherapy. Sixteen patients died and 19 were still alive at 3 to 42 months after the beginning of treatment. Overall median survival for the 35 patients is 17 months. Actuarial survival was 55 +/- 18% at 1 year and 41 +/- 21% at 2 years. The median survival of the Stage I and II patients is 28 months. These results confirm that concomitant chemoradiotherapy is capable of producing a very high histoendoscopic complete response rate and improved 1-year and 2-year survival. The use of concentrated split-course radiotherapy enabled the authors to reduce the total length of the treatment to two periods of 5 days, with results that are similar to previous studies using classic radiotherapy for a 5-week to 7-week period.