Esophagus, as the pipe connecting oral cavity and stomach, has unique anatomical structure and physiological functions. The related diseases including esophageal cancer and precancerous lesions are the ones of major public health problems in China. The pathogenesis of esophageal diseases is still not clear. The exploration of correlation between the changes of esophageal microbiota and esophageal diseases becomes a new breakthrough in the study of etiology. Previous studies have found enrichment of gram-positive bacteria in the normal esophagus, while a decrease in diversity of bacteria and a dominant gram-negative anaerobe in diseased esophagus. Although much progress has been made in the study of esophageal microbiota, the standard method of how to accurately and noninvasively collect esophageal microbiota is still lack, which is an important part of the esophageal microbial research.
食管作为连接口腔和胃的管道，具有独特的解剖结构和生理学功能，包括食管癌及其癌前病变在内的食管相关疾病是我国重要的公共卫生问题之一。食管相关疾病的发病机制目前尚不清楚，探索食管微生物的变化与食管相关疾病的关联性成为病因研究的新突破口。正常食管有革兰氏阳性菌的富集，病变食管菌群多样性降低，革兰氏阴性厌氧菌占主导地位。尽管有关食管微生物的研究已经有了很大进展，但仍然缺乏准确且无创获取食管菌群样本的标准采样方法，这是食管微生物研究的重要环节。.
Keywords: Esophagus; Flora; Microbiota; Sampling method.