If there is a foreign body sensation in the esophagus, it must be taken seriously and is likely to be esophageal cancer.
If there is a foreign body sensation in the esophagus, this is likely to be esophageal cancer, which is usually at an advanced stage when detected. Foreign body sensation in the esophagus is the most typical symptom of esophageal cancer. The clinical manifestations of esophageal cancer are as follows.
1. Foreign body sensation in esophagus, about 1/5 of patients feel foreign body sensation in esophagus when swallowing. Patients often self-explain that it is due to some rough food grazing the esophagus, or suspect that some foreign body is stored in the esophagus, and there is a feeling that something like vegetable leaves, rice grains or pepper shells are attached to the wall of esophagus and cannot be vomited or swallowed. This early manifestation of esophageal cancer is related to the irritation of deep nerves by the cancer in the esophageal wall.
2. The feeling of dryness and tightness in the throat. About 1/3 of the patients complained of dryness and tightness in the pharynx or neck, unfavorable pharynx and food, sometimes accompanied by slight pain in the pharynx, which may be related to reduced glandular secretion and food constriction due to inflammation and esophageal lesions.
3. The choking sensation of swallowing food, which is present in about half of the patients in the early stage, is not caused by mechanical obstruction of the esophageal cancer, but by inflammatory edema at the site of the cancer.
4. The feeling of slow passage and stagnation of food, some patients feel that the food mass is moving down slowly during the process of swallowing food, and sometimes it seems to stop at a certain position in the esophagus, and some patients compare it to the image that the esophagus is like a ladder, and the food is moving down in a staccato manner.