Objectives: To compare the effectiveness,complication and prognosis between "anatomical membrane method" and traditional method in the resection of left recurrent laryngeal nerve chain lymph node in minimal invasive esophagectomy. Methods: Between January 2017 and June 2018, 168 patients with esophageal cancer undergoing minimally invasive?McKeown?esophagectomy were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into two groups according to the method of the resection of left recurrent laryngeal nerve chain lymph node. Among them, 100 patient received "anatomical membrane method" while 68 patients received traditional method in the resection of left recurrent laryngeal nerve chain lymph node. Time of the resection of operation, perioperative complications and survival were compared between the two groups. Cox regression analysis were used for the analysis of risk factor association with the survival of esophageal cancer. Results: A significant difference was found in the number of resected left recurrent laryngeal nerve chain lymph node and the injure of recurrent laryngeal nerve (13% vs 2%, P=0.010) between the two groups, but no significant difference was found in the time of operation(191.5±19.6 vs 197.2±16.7minutes), average length of stay(12.5±2.4 vs 12.1±2.1 days), mean blood loss in operation (138.8±52.4 vs 132.7±43.3 ml). In multi-variate cox regression analysis, the method of the dissection of recurrent?laryngeal?nerve lymph node, TMN staging and degree?of?tumor?differentiation (P=0.012，0.037，0.045) were independent risk factors for cancer recurrence. Conclusions: This new method of the dissection of recurrent?laryngeal?nerve lymph node was proved to be safe and yielded good clinical outcomes. Therefore, it deserves to be considered as a new treatment for patients with esophageal cancer.