Abstract Background Conversion surgery is a surgical treatment aiming R0 resection after chemotherapy of tumors that were originally regarded as technically or oncologically unresectable or only marginally resectable. Performing surgery in such patients may result in a long-term survival. The current experience concerns stage IV gastric cancer patients with marginally resectable metastasis, while the evidence concerning cardia tumors are poor. We report a case of primary cardia cancer with potentially unresectable metastasis, successfully treated by a multidisplinary approach including chemotherapy and surgery. Methods We report a case about a 65-year-old man affected by EGJ adenocarcinoma (Siewert II) with multiple hepatic metastases and para-aortic adenopathy (cT3N + M1 according to UICC 7th edition). He received intensive chemotherapy with Taxotere, Cisplatin and 5 FU. After therapy, primary tumor and liver lesions had markedly regressed according to CT, using RECIST guidelines. The endoscopy confirmed the reduction in the cardia lesion with negative biopsies. For that reason, the patient was addressed to follow up. Results After 6 years of follow up, endoscopy indicated a local relapse with a pathological diagnosis of adenocarcinoma. CT scan showed a clinical stage was cT3N + M0. The patient was treated with neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy. After treatment the exams showed a partial response. The patient was eligible for conversion surgery and we proceeded to laparotomy total gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy. We performed also exeresis of a liver nodule, which resulted fibrous. The surgical procedure was radical (R0). According to histological examination, the postoperative stage was ypT0N0. Treatment-induced response at the primary tumor site, evaluated according to SPR classification and TRG classification, was SPR 1 and TRG 1. Conclusion Despite limited evidence in literature about conversion surgery in cardia carcinoma, this case shows that intensive chemotherapy allows for conversion of unresectable cardia cancer to resectable cancer, resulting in long-term survival. The following surgical resection provided a R0 resection, leaving no macroscopic residual tumor. This result indicates a potential strategy for patients affected by unresectable cardia cancer. Clearly this strategy requires further analysis to be confirmed. However, based on our case report, the conversion surgery seems safe and feasible, associated with R0 resection. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.