Objectives-Little epidemiological data is available concerning esophageal adenocarcinomas in France. The aim of this study was to study epidemiological characteristics and management of esophageal adenocarcinoma in a well-defined population. Methods-Data were collected by the Burgundy Digestive Cancer Registry covering a population of 1 052 000, over a 28-year period (1976-2001). Incidence, treatment and stage at diagnosis were noted. Univariate and multivariate analysis of survival was performed. Results-Age standardized incidence rates were 1.60/100,000 in men and 0.15/100,000 in women. The mean increase in incidence rates by 5-year periods were respectively +68.1%(P < 0.001) and +97.4%(P < 0.001). Overall, 69.9%of the cancers were located in the lower third of the esophagus. Surgical resection was performed in 32.1%of patients. Among the surgical patients, the tumor was limited to the esophageal wall in 11.4%, lymph node metastases were present in 18.1%and non-resectable distant metastases in 70.5%. There was no improvement of stage at diagnosis over time. Survival rates were 14.4%at 3 years and 9.2%at 5 years. Five-year survival rates varied from 38.4%for cases limited to the esophageal wall to 1.8%for metastatic and non resectable cases. Stage at diagnosis was the only significant prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion-Esophageal adenocarcinomas are rare cancers characterized by a sharp rise in incidence over the past years in France. Stage at diagnosis and prognosis are worse than reported in hospital statistics. Objectives-Little epidemiological data is available concerning esophageal adenocarcinomas in France. The aim of this study was to to epide epidemiological characteristics and management of esophageal adenocarcinoma in a well-defined population. Methods-Data were collected by the Burgundy Digestive Cancer Registry covering a population of Incidence, treatment and stage at diagnosis were observed. Univariate and multivariate analysis of survival was performed. Results-Age of incidence rates were 1.60 / 100,000 in men and 0.15 / The mean increase in incidence rates by 5-year periods were respectively + 68.1% (P <0.001) and + 97.4% (P <0.001). Overall, 69.9% of the cancers were located in the lower third of the Among the surgical patients, the tumor was limited to the esophageal wall in 11.4%, lymph node metastases were present in 18.1% and non-resectable distant met There was no improvement of stage at diagnosis over time. Survival rates were 14.4% at 3 years and 9.2% at 5 years. Five-year survival rates varied from 38.4% for cases limited to the esophageal wall to 1.8% for metastatic and non resectable cases. Stage-diagnosis was the only significant prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion-Esophageal adenocarcinomas are rare cancers characterized by a sharp rise in incidence over the past years in France. Stage at diagnosis and prognosis are worse than reported in hospital statistics.