Abstract: Objective To explore the expression and functional of the serum vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF） and erythro-poietin（EPO）in hypoxic metabolism during one-lung ventilation（OLV）. Methods Patients undergoing intrathoracic radical resection of esophageal carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups：one in which patients underwent OLV（n = 17）and another in which pa-tients underwent two-lung ventilation（TLV；n = 20）.Blood samples were taken immediately before OLV/TLV（T1） and at 30 min（T2），60 min（T3），90 min（T4） and 120 min（T5） after the start of OLV/TLV.Venous blood was collected at the end of the surgery （T6） to measure expression levels of VEGF and EPO.HGB levels were assessed at T1，T3 and T6. Results PaO₂ at T6 was significantly lower in the OLV group than in the TLV group（P＜0.05）.The OLV group showed significantly higher VEGF expression at T3，T4，T5 and T6，as well as significantly higher serum EPO expression at T4 and T5 than did the TLV group（P＜0.05）. Conclusion Expression of VEGF and EPO significantly increased during OLV，suggesting that they participate in the injury and/or healing of pulmonary tis-sue during hypoxia.

Key words: One-lung ventilation, Esophageal carcinoma, Vascular endothelial growth factor , Erythropoietin