Watch out for chronic gastritis cancer
H. pylori is by far the most prevalent human infection, with about half of the world’s population infected with H. pylori. People are the only source of H. pylori infection, and eating unclean food and kissing can lead to transmission of H. pylori. Long-term infection with H. pylori can cause chronic active gastritis and lead to atrophy of the gastric mucosa and intestinal epithelial metaplasia, with increased chances of heterogeneous hyperplasia and carcinogenesis. The younger the age of infection, the greater the possibility of gastric cancer in the future.
In early stage gastric cancer, 80% of patients have no symptoms, and even if a few patients have symptoms, they are some non-specific manifestations, such as loss of appetite, early satiety, abdominal discomfort, etc., which are easily ignored as peptic ulcer or other gastrointestinal diseases. For early detection of gastric cancer, people who live in areas with high incidence of gastric cancer, have gastric symptoms or have family history of gastric cancer should have regular gastric examination as early as possible. The preferred examination method is gastroscopy, through which some tissue specimens are taken for pathological examination. Researchers have studied the process of cardia cancer in residents of Shibei County, Hebei Province, an area with a high incidence of esophageal cardia cancer, and found that there is a correlation between chronic active gastritis and the occurrence of gastric cancer, and that cells in areas with more chronic active gastritis are prone to early carcinogenesis and should be alerted.
There is a relationship between H. pylori infection and the occurrence of gastric cancer; therefore, a feasible measure to prevent and treat H. pylori infection is to prevent and treat cancer in chronically active gastritis.
The prevention of H. pylori infection is the same as the prevention of gastrointestinal infectious diseases, to keep the disease from the mouth. As long as you wash your hands before and after meals, try to eat cooked food heated at high temperatures, drink boiled water, and eat raw
If you wash your fruits and vegetables, you can effectively prevent H. pylori infection. The combination of antibiotics is the only effective measure to treat H. pylori-related diseases.
Pay attention to the “extra-stomach” manifestations of gastric cancer
When people think of gastric cancer, they naturally think of symptoms similar to gastritis and gastric ulcer, such as epigastric distention and pain, nausea and loss of appetite. However, people are not vigilant and do not know enough about gastric cancer, which is mainly “extragastric” manifestations, and it is easy to be neglected and misunderstood.
The first “extragastric” manifestations of gastric cancer mainly include: ovarian metastasis as the first manifestation, and it is reported in the literature that 43.6% of female gastric cancer patients have ovarian metastasis and metastases as the first manifestation. The clinical manifestations are mostly acute abdominal pain, menstrual disorders, lower abdominal masses, etc., while the symptoms of gastrointestinal tract are not obvious. Ovarian metastasis of gastric cancer with ovarian metastases as the first manifestation occurs mostly in premenopausal or young women. Both ovaries are involved at the same time, with enlarged ovaries, intact envelope, solid or mucus-like cut surface, and some of them can secrete estrogen, so clinically they often show various types of menstrual irregularities. It is easily misdiagnosed as simple ovarian tumor.
The rate of liver metastasis in gastric cancer is 45.9%-46.5% with liver metastasis as the first manifestation. Liver metastases are often multifocal, scattered, round and well-defined, negative for AFP, and not associated with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and other liver diseases.
The first manifestation is enlarged lymph nodes on the surface of the body, and the more malignant or advanced gastric cancer may metastasize to the left supraclavicular lymph nodes via the thoracic duct or around the umbilicus. During physical examination, a swollen, unsmooth, hard, stone-like node may be found in the left supraclavicular fossa or around the umbilicus, adhering to the surrounding tissues and fixed. It may also be the first symptom or sign to be detected clinically, and only later can gastric cancer be traced.
Early signs of colon and rectal cancer
Colon and rectal cancer is one of the common cancers in middle-aged and elderly people, and it is easy to cause misdiagnosis clinically due to the special characteristics of its development. Their early manifestations are introduced as follows.
The absorption of food is mainly completed in the small intestine, and by the time food reaches the colon or even the rectum, it has already turned into excreted waste. After people swallow and chew food, it goes through the small intestine to the right hemicolectomy, then to the left hemicolectomy and finally to the rectum. Patients suffering from right hemicolectomy are often characterized by secondary infection and chronic toxin absorption, which manifests as low fever, night sweats, general weakness, anemia and other symptoms. Because of the narrower intestinal lumen of the left hemicolectomy, which prompts the smaller intestinal lumen to become narrower quickly, patients with right hemicolectomy are prone to symptoms of low bowel obstruction such as abdominal distension, abdominal pain and constipation.
The rectum is at the end of the gastrointestinal tract, and the early rectal cancer lesions are only on the intestinal mucosa, so there may be no obvious symptoms. However, after the disease gradually aggravates, there may be local irritation symptoms of tumor, manifested as increased frequency of stool, from normal 1-2 times per day to 3-4 times or more, and unshaped stool. There is anal discomfort, a feeling of falling, sometimes hidden pain in the abdomen, sometimes blood and mucus in the stool.
Colon and rectal cancer mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people, but in recent years, the incidence is also significantly higher among young people. Therefore, when you have change in stool habit, increase in stool frequency or unexplained mucus or pus-blood stool, unexplained low fever, night sweats, anemia or chronic intestinal obstruction, you should be alert to whether you have colon and rectal cancer. If relevant symptoms appear, you should go to hospital for examination in time. Before a clear diagnosis is made, do not treat enteritis or dysentery for a long time to avoid delaying the diagnosis.
Be alert to nasopharyngeal cancer if there is blood in the nose repeatedly
Nasopharyngeal cancer is one of the most common tumors in China and occupies the first place in the incidence of head and neck malignant tumors. The age of onset of nasopharyngeal cancer is mostly between 40 and 60 years old, with more men than women. The main manifestations of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are: blood in reverse aspiration or bloody nasal discharge, which is the bleeding caused by tumor surface rupture, and the amount of bleeding is generally small, mostly seen in the morning when waking up. Because the bleeding is small and intermittent, it is often ignored by patients or mistaken for respiratory tract inflammation for treatment. The disease also causes symptoms in the ear, which may include tinnitus, hearing loss, ear blockage, or fluid in the tympanic chamber. When the nasal bleeding is high, the disease is often in an advanced stage. At this time, nasal congestion, neck lumps (lymph node metastasis in the neck), headache, etc., and cerebral nerve symptoms such as blurred vision, drooping lids, or even eye fixation or blindness may appear.
The cause of nasopharyngeal cancer has not been fully understood yet, and it may be related to genetic factors, EBV infection and various chemical substances (polycyclic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, trace elements of nickel, etc.).
To prevent nasopharyngeal cancer, first of all, we should eat less or no food containing nitrosamines in our diet, such as salted fish, salted pickles, salted meat and certain canned food containing nitrosamines. According to relevant data, the risk of nasopharyngeal cancer increases significantly when children eat salted fish before the age of 10. Secondly, people over 40 years old should pay attention to nasopharyngeal examination when conducting medical checkups. In addition, actively participate in sports to enhance their ability to resist diseases.
Due to the hidden location of nasopharynx and the complicated early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer, it is easy to be missed and misdiagnosed. Therefore, people should be more alert and pay attention to early clinical symptoms to achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment.
Medical experts remind people that if there is repeatedly bloody discharge in nasal discharge or nasal discharge is light pink or with blood, they should be highly alert and go to hospital for examination in time.
Bone cancer should be beware of unexplained bone pain
Bone cancer is highly prevalent among teenagers. Professor Zhang Jinzhe, a famous pediatric surgeon and academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, recorded in his book “Practical Pediatric Oncology” that bone tumor is the second most common childhood death, among which osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor, mostly seen in adolescents between 10 and 25 years old. It has a rapid onset and metastasizes rapidly within a short period of time.
Although the exact cause of bone cancer is not known, it is generally believed to be related to genetic alterations. The annual incidence of osteosarcoma is 1 in 1 million to 3 in 1 million, with approximately 3/4 occurring in the knee joint. It has been scientifically proven that patients who have had retinoblastoma in the eye as a child have a fairly high chance of developing bone cancer later in life.
Clinical manifestations of osteosarcoma include relatively rapid growth of the mass, pain, increased local skin temperature, functional impairment, and pathological fractures. This is because the tumor cells multiply particularly rapidly in the bone marrow cavity, causing abnormally high pressure in the cavity and thus causing patients to feel severe pain. Although the incidence of osteosarcoma is not high, it is quite dangerous, and the cancer cells will develop lung metastasis within six months to a year, thus causing the patient’s death.
Bone cancer usually occurs in adolescents. Since the bones of adolescents grow rapidly during this period, the pain caused by bone cancer can easily be mistaken as a normal physiological phenomenon – growing pain, or thought to be general arthritis, sprain or periostitis, thus missing the best time for treatment. Therefore, the sooner you seek medical treatment for bone cancer, the better. If adolescents experience swelling, pain, high local skin temperature, and limited joint activities, they should never take it lightly and should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Early extra-pulmonary manifestations of lung cancer
As we know, the typical symptoms of lung cancer are lung manifestations such as cough, blood in sputum, chest pain and shortness of breath; however, according to statistics, about half of the lung cancer patients show symptoms outside the lungs at the beginning, and they often appear before the lung symptoms, which invariably become the early signal of lung cancer. However, since these symptoms do not seem to be related to lung cancer, they are often misdiagnosed as other diseases. Therefore, we should be alert and pay attention to grasp these signals, which will be helpful for early diagnosis and early treatment. What are the main extra-pulmonary symptoms of lung cancer?
1. Bone and joint symptoms: such symptoms are more common. Because lung cancer cells can produce certain special endocrine hormones (heterogenous hormones), antigens and enzymes, these substances can operate on bone and joint parts, resulting in swelling and pain of bone and joint, often involving tibia, fibula, ulna, radius and other bones and joints, and the ends of fingers and toes are often enlarged to pestle-like fingers.
2.Shoulder and back pain: Pulmonary peripheral type lung cancer often develops posteriorly, erodes the pleura and involves the ribs and chest wall tissues, thus causing shoulder and back pain. Such patients rarely have respiratory symptoms.
3. Hoarseness: lung cancer metastases compress the laryngeal nerve, which can cause hoarseness due to vocal cord veneer paralysis. Since metastases of lung cancer can appear at an early stage and county metastases can sometimes grow faster than the primary ones, the clinical manifestations of metastases can appear before the primary ones.
4.Neurological symptoms: brain metastasis of lung cancer may show neurological symptoms such as headache, vomiting, sudden coma, aphasia and hemiparesis, which are often misdiagnosed as and thrombosis and brain tumor due to the lack of obvious lung symptoms.
5. Male breast enlargement: about 10%-20% of male lung cancer patients have breast enlargement, unilateral but mostly bilateral, and this symptom appears about one year earlier than pulmonary symptoms such as cough, blood in sputum, chest pain and shortness of breath. This is because certain lung cancer cells can secrete chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that can cause hyperplasia of breast tissue and make the breast hypertrophy.
Lung cancer should be diagnosed and treated early
Due to the different biological characteristics of cancer cells, lung cancer is medically classified into two categories: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, which is further divided into squamous carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell lung cancer.
Clinical symptoms of early stage lung cancer are often atypical, therefore, when symptoms such as cough, coughing sputum, blood in sputum, chest tightness, breath-holding and wasting occur for more than 2 weeks, corresponding examination should be done in hospital to exclude lung cancer. In recent years, with the development of imaging technologies such as X-ray, CT and MRI, the diagnosis rate of lung cancer has been greatly improved, but it is worth noting that some patients and even doctors in primary care units have the misconception that “relying on imaging tests can confirm the diagnosis of lung cancer”. In fact, sputum cytology examination, serum tumor marker examination and fiberoptic bronchoscopy all play an important role in the diagnosis of lung cancer.
Treatment of lung cancer includes surgery, radiotherapy, biological treatment, Chinese medicine treatment and integrative treatment.
Since there is no breakthrough in the early diagnosis of lung cancer, only 20% of patients are still eligible for surgery after lung cancer is diagnosed. Even for those patients who are operable, some of them need preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and postoperative consolidation chemotherapy. Therefore, it has been estimated that about 90% of lung cancer patients have to receive chemotherapy at different stages of treatment. Thus, chemotherapy occupies a rather important position in the overall comprehensive treatment.
The efficacy of combination chemotherapy is significantly better than that of monotherapy. The introduction of platinum drugs in the 1980s and the emergence of new anti-cancer drugs such as Kinzel, Tysol and Noviben in the last decade have further improved the efficacy of lung cancer chemotherapy. At present, the efficiency of chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer is 60%-70%, while that for non-small cell lung cancer is 30%-40%.
Radiotherapy is another important method in the comprehensive treatment of middle and late stage lung cancer. In recent years, radiotherapy technology has developed rapidly, and the use of new technologies such as hyper-segmentation radiotherapy, conformal radiotherapy, X-knife and γ-knife has maximized the radiation dose to the tumor while minimizing the damage of radiation to normal tissues, which has improved the efficacy.
The treatment plan of simultaneous radiotherapy being implemented at home and abroad is expected to further shorten the course of treatment, improve the efficacy and prolong the survival of patients.
In the near future, gene therapy will be gradually applied to clinical practice, hopefully bringing a new dawn to the comprehensive treatment of lung cancer.
Early detection of breast cancer
Breast cancer is the main malignant tumor that endangers women’s health. About 1.2 million women worldwide develop breast cancer and 500,000 women die from it every year. The incidence rate of breast cancer in China is increasing year by year, especially Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and coastal areas are the high incidence areas of breast cancer in China.
There are more factors related to the etiology of breast cancer, and the common risk factors are.
Age at menarche, age at menopause, age at first birth. Family history. Benign diseases of the breast. Dietary factors and obesity. Endocrine factors and hormones. Ionizing radiation. Unhealthy lifestyle habits. Viral infection, etc.
In the early stage, there is often no obvious clinical symptoms, or only a mild breast pain, mostly dull or hidden, a few are pinprick-like pain, often intermittent and confined to the lesion, the pain does not change with the menstrual cycle.
Breast lumps
Breast lumps are often the main symptom prompting patients to visit the doctor. 80% of the lumps are discovered by the patients themselves accidentally, and only a small percentage is discovered by the doctor during physical examination.
The majority of lumps are located in the outer upper quadrant of the breast, followed by the inner upper quadrant.
2.Number Generally, single lumps in unilateral breast are more common, occasionally 2-3 lumps are seen.
3.Size The size of the masses varies. In the past, due to late presentation, the masses were mostly larger.
4.Mass morphology, surface and boundary of masses are various in shape, usually irregular, but also round and oval.
The texture of the masses is not identical, but mostly solid, hard, or even stone-like hard.
6.Mobility is poor compared to benign masses.
Nipple overflow
The incidence of nipple overflow in breast cancer is low, usually below 10%, and about 12%-25% of bloody overflow is breast cancer, but bloody nipple overflow in patients over 50 years old is more likely to be breast cancer. If there is overflow without palpable lump, it can be an early clinical manifestation of intraductal cancer.
Nipple and areola changes
When the cancer foci invade the nipple or areola, it may make the nipple deviate to the tumor – side, or make the nipple flattened, retracted and sunken until the nipple is completely retracted under the areola.
Local skin changes
Some superficial early stage cancers make the skin sunken and resembles dimples, which is clinically called “dimple sign” or “orange peel-like changes”.
Change of breast contour
Slight convexity or depression. Elevation of the breast may also be seen, so that the nipples are not at the same level.
Axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes
In early stage of breast cancer metastasis, the lymph nodes in the axilla and supraclavicular fossa are usually not palpable. If the breast lump has malignant signs and the lymph nodes in the axillary and supraclavicular fossa are large, then the possibility of metastasis is high. Some occult breast cancers often have enlarged axillary or supraclavicular lymph nodes as the first symptom, while the primary lesion in the breast is small.
How is thyroid cancer detected?
The normal thyroid gland is thin and soft and cannot be seen or felt. Once enlarged or lumpy, it may appear as a protrusion in the area equivalent to the collar (i.e. the anterior mid-neck area, below the laryngeal node). Thyroid cancer is the most common type of primary malignant tumor of the neck. Thyroid cancer can occur in all age groups, but there are small peaks between the ages of 7-20 and 40-50, with twice as many women as men.
The etiology of thyroid cancer is not clear, only some factors are known to be related to the disease, such as X-ray exposure during infancy is a predisposing factor for thyroid cancer in young people.
The prognosis of thyroid cancer is good except for undifferentiated carcinoma. Most of the thyroid cancers can survive for many years with lung and distant metastases.
Self-examination of thyroid cancer
1. Pay attention to the shape of the enlarged thyroid gland. The shape of enlarged thyroid is generally divided into two categories: butterfly-shaped, mostly seen in patients with endemic goiter, thyroiditis and some hyperthyroidism; and a round lump in a certain part of the thyroid, mostly seen in thyroid cysts, thyroid adenomas and thyroid cancer.
2. Pay attention to the size of the lump. If the lump is diffusely enlarged or multiple nodular enlargement, it is mostly endemic goiter; generally, the diameter of a single nodule of benign tumor or cyst is about 2 cm; if the diameter exceeds 2 cm, thyroid cancer should be suspected.
3. Pay attention to the smoothness and softness of the lump. Touch the surface of the lump carefully with the thumb and index finger. If the surface is smooth and uniform, it is mostly endemic goiter; if the surface is not very smooth, it is more likely to be caused by thyroiditis; if the surface is smooth and uniform with a single nodule enlargement, it may be adenoma; if the single nodule enlargement is not smooth and has a solid feeling, it should be suspected to be cancer.
4. Pay attention to the growth rate of the lump. Local goiter increases slowly and can last for several years or even decades; benign tumors and cysts can last for several months to years; thyroid cancer lumps grow significantly and faster, and can increase significantly within 10 days or one or two months.
5. Pay attention to whether lymph nodes can be palpated around the lump. If hard lymph nodes can be touched around the thyroid gland, it should be highly suspected that the thyroid gland is accompanied by local lymph node metastasis. If the above symptoms appear, you should go to hospital for examination as soon as possible.
Diagnosis of thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer often has the following manifestations: the lump is hard, uneven, with unclear boundaries, and the tumor is large; the tumor may extend beyond the thyroid gland, with poor mobility or fixed, and grows rapidly; sometimes the papillary carcinoma is also cystic in nature, and brown or dark brown liquid can be aspirated by puncture; the enlargement of the lump causes difficulty in breathing, swallowing and hoarseness; enlarged, hard lymph nodes may appear in the middle of the lower neck and next to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. More than 30% of medullary carcinomas may present with intractable watery diarrhea of unknown origin.
X-ray examination. Radiographs may show scattered calcifications and tracheal compression, displacement or bone metastases within the thyroid tumor.
Thyroid scan, poor absorption of 131 iodine by cancerous tissue, and formation of cold nodular areas. However, most cold nodular adenocarcinoma-like cysts must be diagnosed in conjunction with history and other tests. The only way to confirm the diagnosis is a biopsy of the suspicious tissue.
Ten characteristics of leukemia
The onset of leukemia is sudden and the duration of the disease is short, especially in children and young adults.
The first symptom of acute leukemia is mostly fever, which can be flaccid fever, fever, intermittent fever or irregular fever, with a body temperature of 37.5-40°C or higher. Sometimes there is a feeling of cold, but not chills.
2. Bleeding is a common symptom of leukemia. The bleeding site can be all over the body, especially in the nasal cavity, mouth, gums, subcutaneous, under the eyes, but also intracranial, inner ear and visceral bleeding.
3.Anemia Anemia can occur at an early stage, manifested as white face, dizziness, palpitations, etc.
4. Hepatosplenomegaly 50% of leukemia patients will develop hepatosplenomegaly, most notably in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
5. Lymph nodes Widespread lymph node enlargement throughout the body is common in acute lymphocytic leukemia, but is less pronounced in acute than in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Superficial lymph nodes are found in the neck, submaxilla, axilla, and groin, while deep lymph nodes are found in the mediastinum and near the internal organs. The enlarged lymph nodes are generally soft or moderately hard, with a smooth surface and no pressure pain or adhesions.
6. Skin and mucosal lesions Skin lesions accompanying leukemia are manifested as nodules, lumps, maculopapular rash, etc. Mucosal damage is manifested by swelling and ulceration of the nasal mucosa, respiratory mucosa and oral mucosa, etc.
7. Inflammation of the nervous system Leukocyte infiltration can occur in the arachnoid membrane and meninges, which behaves like brain tumors and meningitis, etc. Patients may experience increased intracranial pressure, meningeal irritation, limb paralysis and other symptoms.
8. Bone and joint lesions After the lesions infiltrate the bones and joints, bone and joint pain often occurs, manifesting as hidden pain, soreness and occasionally severe pain in the sternum, humerus, shoulder, elbow, hip and knee joints. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children mostly presents with bone and joint pressure pain.
9.Other Leukemia cells may infiltrate respiratory, digestive and genitourinary systems, as well as orbit, lacrimal gland and fundus. Patients may have diffuse or nodular lung changes, accompanied by pleural effusion, digestive disorders, proteinuria, hematuria, amenorrhea or excessive menstruation, protruding eyes, vision loss and other symptoms.
How to be alert to female vulvar cancer?
Continuous vulvar itching is the most common symptom of vulvar cancer, but the itching is often not caused by vulva itself, but is related to its precursor lesion or combined with other skin diseases at the same time. Therefore, once vulvar nodules or swellings appear, it is important to beware of vulvar cancer.
Sometimes it is slightly painful, sometimes there is a small amount of discharge or bleeding, and sometimes there is only a local change in skin color. About 10% of patients do not have any symptoms. Early stage patients can be completely cured after surgery, while the prognosis of advanced stage patients is extremely poor. Therefore, when the above symptoms and signs appear, you should seek medical attention in time, rather than being ashamed to talk about it and delaying treatment.
Some scholars believe that frequent mirroring of vulva is a good way to detect early vulvar cancer.
Although the etiology of vulvar cancer is not clear at present, it may be related to the following factors.
1. human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
2, chronic vulvar dystrophy.
3.STD (lymphogranuloma, wet shen and syphilis).