How to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy for gastric and esophageal cancers

  Surgery is not recommended for advanced gastric and esophageal cancers, but some surgeons often bully them. It is a bit arbitrary to say that advanced gastric and esophageal cancers cannot be cured, but the chance of cure is often below 5%. In reality, no more than 5% of patients are sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. I have treated a case of locally advanced esophageal cancer, and the tumor disappeared after chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. However, the subsequent response to radiotherapy almost knocked him down, but he survived with a very practical and life-saving technique that is often rejected by patients and even doctors, which is enteral nutrition therapy.  Patients with advanced gastric or esophageal cancer can hardly meet their body’s needs by their own diet, and radiotherapy is almost impossible on this basis. Some people may say that there is still infusion to solve the problem. Yes, but intravenous infusion, even total parenteral intravenous nutrition mixture, is not a physiological way for the body to obtain nutrition. Patients who are bedridden for a long time for intravenous infusion will suffer from fatigue, boredom, sleep disorder, muscle atrophy, lower limb edema caused by hypoproteinemia that cannot be easily corrected, etc. Therefore, relying on infusion after not being able to eat cannot improve the quality of life or prolong life. Enteral nutrition can enable the body to obtain the same nutritional supplement as normal people, improve malnutrition, enhance the body’s immunity, and improve the ability to resist radiotherapy reactions, which is very economical and efficient. Just think, normal people have three meals a day with big fish and meat. Advanced tumor patients are already in poor physical condition, and they have to undergo such harmful treatment as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.