In a 66-year-old male with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma at cT. 3N. 0M. 0, the preoperative thoracic contrast-enhanced CT scans depict the gross tumor volume obtained by manual delineation along the margin of the abnormal esophageal wall slice-by-slice, and the gross tumor volume is 12.83 cm3. During the follow-up period, there was no recurrence as shown on follow-up CT after radical esophagectomy.