Abstract Oesophageal cancer is the 9th most common cancer in Scotland, yet is ranked 5th for cancer mortality. This is in part due to most new patients presenting with locally-advanced or metastatic disease. Early disease is often found during Barrett's surveillance or serendipitously. There is a paucity of literature describing the outcomes of patients who undergo resection for early disease in Europe, particularly morbidity, actual five-year survival rate, recurrence patterns and ultimate causes of death. Methods Data for fifty consecutive patients from the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh (RIE) with cN0 disease who underwent thoracoscopically-assisted McKeown (three-stage) oesophagectomy between 2005 and 2013 were recorded in a prospectively-maintained database. 20/50 were in a formal endoscopic surveillance program for Barrett’s oesophagus. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) became widely used at RIE in 2007 with the introduction of an endoscopic mucosal resection service, with 39/40 patients operated on since 2007 undergoing pre-operative EUS. Results Median age was 67 (range 46–81) with 34 males and 16 females. 44 had ≤pT1b, while 48 patients were pN0 (median node yield of 12). There were 4 anastomotic leaks, 4 recurrent laryngeal nerve palsies and 2 tracheo-oesophageal fistulas. There was one in-hospital death secondary to intra-operative and post-operative myocardial infarctions. As of January 2020, 16/50 patients had died, with a median survival of 9 years; five year survival was approximately 85%. 5 patients died of metastatic disease (1.3 to 6.8 years post-resection). 10 patients died of other causes, the most common being alcoholic liver disease (n = 3). Conclusion Patients in this case series received high quality surgery and peri-operative care, and survival rates were high. This dataset demonstrates that a holistic approach to healthcare is vitally important in the long-term care of such a cohort, because most deaths were not related to their cancer. This should be kept in mind when counselling patients with early disease and when liaising with their primary care provider.