Objective To investigate the clinical effect of modified Danzhenyou in the treatment of acute radiation esophagitis(ARE).Methods A total of 100 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent radiotherapy from January to December 2022 were selected as the research objects.The patients were randomly divided into control group and modified Danzhenyou group,with 50 cases in each group.The control group was treated with conventional western medicine,and the modified Danzhenyou group was treated with modified Danzhenyou on the basis of the control group.The therapeutic effects of the two groups were compared.Results The severity of ARE in the modified Danzhenyou group was lower than that in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The total effective rate of treatment of the modified Danzhenyou group was 88.00%,which was slightly higher than 84.00%of the control group,but the difference was not statistically significant(P>0.05).After treatment,the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)and interleukin-8(IL-8)in the modified Danzhenyou group were lower than those in the control group,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion Modified Danzhenyou combined with conventional western medicine treatment can effectively reduce the incidence and severity of ARE and relieve the inflammatory response of patients.