Recently, my friend always felt something in her throat that she couldn’t swallow. She went to the hospital for ENT examinations several times without any problem. However, after searching online, she suspected that she had esophageal cancer, because an elder in their family had died of esophageal cancer. There was a time when I was in a similar situation. She went to the gastroenterology department, although the doctor thought she was fine, but in order to relieve her anxiety, she had a gastroscope examination, and the result was indeed fine.

Although this incident is a small episode in health, in modern society, the diet is rich, high-sugar, high-calorie, high-salt foods are everywhere, causing stomach pain, hyperacidity, gastroesophageal reflux, and abnormal swallowing problems. More and more, and esophageal cancer is hidden under these abnormalities, so how to identify these problems? Who should pay special attention?

Understanding Esophageal Cancer (Esophageal Cancer)

Esophageal cancer, as the name suggests, is cancer that originates in the esophagus, also known as esophageal cancer. The esophagus is a tubular structure about 20 cm long, extending from the neck to the chest, abdomen, and adjacent to important organs such as the heart and lungs. It is a must for the human body to eat food. aisle. Cancers occurring on it can be divided into two categories according to their location and shape. The first is squamous epithelial cancer, which accounts for about 90% of all esophageal malignant tumors, and is generally found in the upper ²⁄₃ of the esophagus; the second is esophageal adenocarcinoma, A cancerous tumor arising from the esophagus glands, which often occurs at the junction of the esophagus and stomach, and its incidence is currently on the rise.

Understand the common types of esophageal cancer, then what causes esophageal cancer? That is to say, what are the risk factors that make people susceptible to the disease?

Five risk factors for esophageal cancer

1. Age and gender: There is no doubt that the incidence of cancer is mostly related to age, and most cancers also occur in men. Similarly, esophageal cancer is prone to occur in men over 50 years old, that is, middle-aged and elderly men.

2. Smoking and drinking: Everyone can understand this, smoking is the cause of many diseases, and so is cancer. Alcohol can stimulate the esophagus mucosa of the human body and promote the incidence of esophageal cancer. In addition, excessive drinking will cause problems such as increased gastric acid and vomiting, and the upwelling of gastric acid to stimulate the esophagus is also easy to cause disease.

3. Diet: Most Chinese people eat spicy food. Although it tastes delicious, its impact on the esophagus should not be underestimated. Under the influence of this long-term diet, it can increase the risk of esophageal cancer. In China, many areas have the habit of drinking hot food, and the incidence of esophageal cancer in these places is relatively high. It is said that half of the world’s esophageal cancer patients are in China, which is enough to explain the problem.

1. Gastroesophageal reflux: chest discomfort, fever, sour taste in the throat, etc. Many people are not unfamiliar with these symptoms. This is gastroesophageal reflux, which is commonly known as acid reflux, but most of them occur occasionally. However, if it happens often, you should worry that the problem will gradually become serious, and even when the stomach medicine does not work, it may be close to cancer.

2. Barrett’s esophagus lesion: This is a precancerous lesion of the esophagus, mainly due to changes in the lower esophagus, squamous epithelial cells change into columnar epithelial cells, and the original tissue changes, which can easily develop into esophageal cancer. According to relevant research, the longer the Barrett’s esophagus lesion, the higher the risk of esophageal cancer.

In addition, some medical institutions have classified seven types of high-risk groups for esophageal cancer. If you feel that you belong to these seven groups, or you have symptoms such as difficulty swallowing, a stuck throat, or a long-term unexplained cough, it is best to be a Endoscopy to determine whether it is an early cancer lesion.

7 high-risk groups for esophageal cancer

1. Have the habit of smoking, drinking or chewing betel nut.

2. Patients who have suffered from head, neck and oral cancer.

3. Patients with erosive injury to the esophagus.

4. People with esophageal relaxation-related diseases.

5. For those who like hot drinks, the temperature is generally around 50℃-60℃.

6. Foreign body sensation, difficulty swallowing or pain when swallowing.

7. People who like to eat pickled, smoked and preservative foods.

What are the symptoms associated with the development of esophageal cancer?

Because the esophagus itself is elastic and has no nerve receptors, even if cancer cells grow on the mucosa, there will be no pain, and there are almost no obvious symptoms in the initial stage, but as the tumor grows, it will gradually feel more and more luminal space. Difficulty swallowing, or chest pain or foreign body sensation caused by tumor ulcers, but usually have obvious symptoms such as dry throat, difficulty swallowing, long-term coughing and clearing phlegm, chest pain and feeling of infarction when eating, it is usually esophageal cancer Mid-late.

So, how to diagnose esophageal cancer early or what are the signs of it?

In fact, we can judge from some of the overall symptoms:

hard to swallow:

When the esophageal tumor becomes larger and affects the swallowing function, there will be an abnormal feeling. Difficulty swallowing may initially be found when eating hard food or eating a lot of food, but when the disease progresses, even when eating liquid food, these problems can occur, so with this symptom, it is necessary to completely early detection and Not realistic. Then you need to make a comprehensive judgment of the latter.

Chest and Abdominal Pain:

Tumors generally cause local inflammation in the human body, so there may be symptoms of chest and abdomen pain in patients, especially when swallowing. possible.

Hematemesis and melena:

Tumors in the esophagus may bleed. At this time, there will be two situations. One is that there is a lot of blood, and when the upper gastrointestinal tract is reversed, blood is vomited. This situation is more dangerous and it is easy to shock. The stool will appear black, commonly known as asphalt stool.

Weight Loss:

Weight loss caused by malignant tumors is a common situation, which is what we call cachexia. Therefore, if there is unexplained weight loss, coupled with abnormal diet, you should also pay attention to it and go to the hospital for examination as soon as possible.

Esophageal cancer screening

Although esophageal cancer has some of the above signs, it is not easy to find the problem through symptoms due to the mild disease in the early stage. When the symptoms are obvious, the cancer may have already metastasized, and once it metastasizes, the prognosis is very poor. According to statistics, stage 1 esophageal cancer The five-year survival rate is about 60%, and it drops to 40% in the second stage, only 20% in the third stage, and maybe only about 5% in the fourth stage. Therefore, it is still necessary to detect the disease as soon as possible through certain examinations, which is helpful for treatment.

In modern inspection methods, common gastroscopy, upper gastrointestinal imaging, etc., can detect problems at an early stage, and endoscopy can be checked by light of a specific wavelength, which can detect cancer tissue earlier and find problems more easily . In addition, if abnormalities are found during inspection, biopsy can be performed for pathological examination to confirm the diagnosis.

Esophageal cancer treatment

What is the treatment for esophageal cancer if diagnosed?

The overall principle is still surgical resection in the early stage, and conservative methods such as chemotherapy should be used in the case of inoperable cases in the middle and advanced stages.

For stage 1 localized tumors, the best method is to use radical endoscopic mucosal dissection to remove as cleanly as possible. If the tumor has invaded the esophagus submucosa or deeper, minimally invasive surgery may not be suitable, and open surgery is required. Thoracic surgery and reconstruction of the esophagus. For stage 2-4 esophageal cancer, if surgery is possible, in addition to surgical resection, the surrounding lymph nodes must also be removed, and adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy must be performed.

As for the more popular targeted therapy in recent years, the treatment effect of esophageal cancer is not good, but in the European Society of Medical Oncology the year before, it is believed that immunotherapy combined with traditional chemotherapy is more effective than chemotherapy alone.

As for how to prevent esophageal cancer?

Undoubtedly, we must first develop good living habits, do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, and there is a habit of chewing betel nut in southern cities. These risk factors must be kept away; more importantly, pay attention to physical changes at any time, and have regular physical examinations every year, especially your age. Middle-aged and elderly people over 45 years old; if they are the high-risk groups we mentioned before, it is best to do endoscopy such as lower esophagoscopy and gastroscope, which is conducive to early detection and early treatment.

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