What are the causes of esophageal cancer?
The etiology of esophageal cancer has not been fully understood, although a lot of investigation and research work has been done.
At present, it is generally believed that it may be related to the following factors.
(1) Preference for overheated food or strong alcohol, eating too fast (wolf swallowing) and rough food.
(2) Lack of trace amounts of elementless aluminum in water sources and soils. Aluminum has the effect of reducing the nitrate content in crops in the area. When the water is deficient in aluminum, the nitrate content in crops increases, and nitrate can be converted to nitrite by bacteria after being ingested, and the latter can be combined with secondary amines to form nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are recognized as carcinogenic substances that can be used to induce esophageal, gastric and intestinal tumors in animals.
(3) long-term consumption of food contaminated by mold. Such as Linxian area people like to eat sauerkraut, and this sauerkraut is often contaminated by white ground mold. White ground mold can produce the toxin white ground, which can strengthen the cancer-promoting effect of nitrosamines; in animal experiments, it has been confirmed that it has a direct carcinogenic effect.
What is early esophageal cancer?
In the past, it was difficult to detect and diagnose esophageal cancer at an early stage, and when patients came to the clinic because they could not eat, they were often in the middle or late stage, thus the cure rate was extremely low. When China was first liberated, the 5-year survival rate after surgery was only about 10%. However, in the past decade, due to the application of double-lumen tube with mesh balloon for cytological examination of esophageal smear and the use of X-ray barium meal multi-axis fluoroscopy for screening a large number of people, the early diagnosis rate was greatly improved and the 5-year survival rate of early esophageal cancer after surgery was increased to 90.3%. At the same time, a lot of information on early pathological changes and clinical signs of esophageal cancer has been accumulated.
The meaning of early esophageal cancer is.
(1) cancer has not invaded the muscular layer.
(2) metastasis has not occurred.
(3) clinical symptoms are not obvious. The first two points are easy to understand, but the latter point needs to be clarified. The latter point needs to be clarified. Here, the clinical symptoms are not obvious, not that there are no clinical symptoms, but that the early signs of esophageal cancer have already occurred at this time.
What are the clinical manifestations of esophageal cancer?
(1) Progressive dysphagia.
This is the most typical symptom of esophageal cancer, which shows that the patient himself feels that there is temporary food retention behind the sternum after swallowing coarse food, such as the feeling of gas blocking food, especially when taking the first bite of food in the morning. In the early stage of the disease, the mass is very easy to be ignored because it is small and has little effect on eating. When the mass gradually increases in size and the esophageal lumen becomes narrow, progressive dysphagia may occur.
(2) Pain behind the sternum during eating.
Along with difficulty in swallowing food, a painful sensation behind the sternum can occur. This pain is burning, dull, and worsens with the entry of food, and is more pronounced if the food eaten is hot or the food is more acidic. When the food is swallowed, the pain is slightly relieved.
(3) Discomfort behind the chest and stomach.
Some patients do not have the symptom of sternal pain, but only feel discomfort behind the sternum. In patients with esophageal cancer, about 1/5 of them have this symptom, so they should pay attention to such patients.
(4) Other.
Dryness and tightness in the throat, patients often feel tightness in the neck, unfavorable swallowing of food, and slight pain. Sometimes there is also pain in the fossa of the heart and mouth, and this occurs mostly when swallowing food.
All of these early symptoms mentioned above have a common feature related to swallowing food. Once these symptoms are found, special attention should be paid to them and timely visit the hospital.
How to diagnose esophageal cancer in early stage?
For patients with suspected esophageal cancer, the first step should be to perform the cytological examination of esophageal laparoscopy which is economical, easy, less painful and not dangerous. If cancer cells are found, then X-ray barium esophagogram or esophagoscopy can be performed, which not only can directly observe the invasion of tumor into esophagus, but also can clamp the tumor tissue for pathological examination, which is of great significance to confirm the diagnosis of esophageal cancer.
How to prevent esophageal cancer?
According to the information we have, prevention should start from the following aspects.
(1) Don’t eat too hot food, don’t eat too fast, and don’t drink too much strong alcohol to reduce the stimulation to esophageal mucosa.
(2) Do not eat moldy food, eat less sauerkraut. Because moldy grain can produce toxins. Change the habit of eating sauerkraut, sauerkraut contains a large number of nitrosamines, these substances have a strong carcinogenic effect.
(3) Treat drinking water with bleach to reduce the nitrite content in water, and often take vitamin C, which can reduce the formation of nitrosamines in the stomach.
(4) If you live in a region with high incidence of esophageal cancer, are a male over 40 years old, have the habit of eating pickled vegetables and drinking alcohol, and recently have difficulty in swallowing, pain or discomfort behind the sternum, you should undergo esophageal exfoliation cytology examination, barium meal X-ray examination, esophagoscopy and biopsy as soon as possible for early detection and early treatment.