The main uncomfortable symptoms of esophageal cancer are dysphagia, painful swallowing, abdominal discomfort, and retrosternal pain.
Difficulty in swallowing is the most common symptom of esophageal cancer
.
In about 87.29% of patients with esophageal cancer, the first symptom is dysphagia , followed by painful swallowing (5.10%). Both of these symptoms were most often seen in the age group 50-68 years.
The most intuitive manifestation of dysphagia is that the process of swallowing food is laborious and time-consuming, as if there is a mass blocking the pharynx, behind the sternum, and in severe cases, even complete inability to swallow food and saliva. Moreover, patients often cannot clearly indicate where the specific area of difficulty is. Clinically, some patients have had to go to the emergency room after swallowing larger pieces of food such as steamed buns and pieces of meat that were stuck in a part of the esophagus and could not go down.
It is worth stating that difficulty in swallowing is not a unique manifestation of esophageal cancer. Benign conditions such as chronic pharyngitis, esophagitis, esophageal diverticula, esophageal varices, and cardia loss can all cause dysphagia.
What are the characteristics of dysphagia caused by esophageal cancer?
In contrast to dysphagia caused by benign diseases, the symptoms caused by esophageal cancer are generally progressive, that is, they manifest themselves more and more severely over time, starting with difficulty swallowing dry, coarse foods (such as rice, steamed buns, meat, etc.), followed by difficulty swallowing semi-liquid foods (such as rice porridge, noodles, etc.), and ending with the inability to swallow even water and saliva.
What are the other symptoms of esophageal cancer?
Abdominal discomfort and retrosternal pain can also be the first symptoms of esophageal cancer, but the percentages are very low, 3.36% and 1.48%, respectively. Moreover, retrosternal discomfort was more frequent in patients under 60 years of age, and abdominal discomfort was more pronounced in patients over 60 years of age.
These symptoms, although not common and specific for esophageal cancer, should be actively sought for cause if they remain unrelieved.
It is worth reminding that clinical studies have also found that patients with dysphagia and retrosternal discomfort have a median delay in diagnosis and treatment of up to 60 days. That is, half of the patients would not see a doctor and be diagnosed until two months after the onset of these symptoms. This time was half as long for patients with abdominal discomfort and painful swallowing, at 30 days. Therefore, if you experience dysphagia and retrosternal discomfort, please don’t think of it as a minor illness that will pass if you carry on, but rather seek medical attention as soon as possible to actively look for the cause and treat it.