Both smoking and drinking alcohol are related to cancer of the oesophagus.

There are two main types of cancer of the oesophagus. These are called squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Which one a person has depends on what the cancer cells look like under a microscope. The majority of squamous carcinomas occur in the middle or upper part of the oesophagus whereas he majority of adenocarcinomas occur in the lower part of the oesophagus.

Years ago squamous carcinomas were much commoner than adenocarcinomas in the oesophagus but now the frequency of the two types of cancer is more or less equal.

Cigarette smokers are 5 to 10 times more likely than non-smokers to get a squamous cancer of the oesophagus. The risk increases with the amount smoked each day and the number of years the person has been a smoker. The risk for adenocarcinomas is less but smokers are still about twice as likely as non-smokers to get one of these cancers. After stopping smoking the likelihood of getting a squamous cancer of the oesophagus gradually reduces but the risk of getting an adenocarcinoma remains unchanged.

Alcohol also is a cause of cancer of the oesophagus and again the risk increases with the amount consumed. The heavier the drinker the more likely they are to get a cancer of their gullet.

The effect of smoking and drinking combined actually multiplies the risk of getting cancer of the oesophagus. So a heavy smoker and drinker is as much as 100 times more likely to get one of these tumours than a teetotal non-smoker.