Esophageal cancer is a disease with high incidence and recurrence rate, which is very harmful. Today, we introduce the general knowledge of esophageal cancer.
Early symptoms of esophageal cancer
1.Sensation of hard choking when swallowing food, which occurs occasionally and does not affect eating.
2.Pain and discomfort behind the sternum or upper abdomen, mostly accompanied by pain in the throat.
3.Foreign body sensation in esophagus, mostly the discomfort of not being able to vomit and not being able to swallow.
4, dryness and tightness in the throat.
5.Slow passage and stagnation of food.
Symptoms of middle and late stage esophageal cancer
This is the most common and typical symptom of esophageal cancer, which represents the degree of narrowing and obstruction of esophageal lumen in the patient’s body.
2.Vomiting mucus.
3.Pain in the chest and back or in the throat.
4.Metastatic symptoms and signs: 1) neck mass; 2) hoarseness; 3) compression symptoms, compression of cervical sympathetic nerve, compression of trachea and bronchus, invasion of septal nerve, invasion of vagus nerve and compression of superior vena cava, invasion of pleura and spine, involvement of brachial plexus nerve, etc.; 4) corresponding symptoms caused by metastasis to liver, lung and brain, etc.
5.Esophageal bleeding.
6.Esophageal perforation. Esophagus a trachea or bronchus repeatedly, esophagus aorta, esophagus a lung, esophagus a mediastinum healed, etc.
How to treat esophageal cancer
I. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment
In fact, TCM treatment is mainly used as an adjuvant treatment method, mostly combined with surgical treatment and radiotherapy treatment. From the perspective of TCM, the occurrence of esophageal cancer is mainly caused by the weakness of Yang energy and the decrease of body function. Therefore, patients with esophageal cancer should warm yang and benefit qi to improve their functions.
II. Surgical treatment
Surgical treatment method is more suitable for early stage patients with carcinoma in situ and intramucosal cancer. However, surgical treatment is very traumatic to patients’ body, so patients with poor physical condition and special tumor location should choose this method carefully.
Radiotherapy treatment
For patients who are not suitable for surgical treatment, this method is of great significance to the treatment of patients. However, this method is somewhat blind and prone to side effects, so it is better for patients to cooperate with Chinese medicine and diet to improve the disease.
IV. Integrated treatment method
Comprehensive treatment is a more reliable and effective treatment method that can prevent recurrence and metastasis of the disease. The so-called integrated treatment is the combination of surgical treatment and Chinese medicine treatment; or the combination of surgery with radiotherapy and Chinese medicine treatment to prevent post-operative complications.