Most people often do not know what to do when they are diagnosed with a tumor for the first time. In this article, we will briefly talk about what we should do if we find a tumor unexpectedly. Finding cancer Anxious first-time patients with a gastroscopy or colonoscopy result often have a series of questions: Is this disease serious now? How long do I have to live with this condition? If I have surgery, do I need any other treatment? Will the disease recur and metastasize in the future? China’s medical resources are very short, sometimes the doctor can not be patient with each patient to explain for half an hour, so that the patient behind the queue to make an appointment may not be able to get an appointment for several months. We do popularization of science and also introduce some common questions here. “Is this disease serious now? How long can I probably live with this condition? If I have surgery, do I need any other treatment? Will this recur and metastasize in the future?” These questions are often unanswerable for first-time patients, because the stage of the tumor cannot be determined, and the prognosis of different stages varies greatly. Modern medicine is concerned with the basis of treatment, and without detailed examination results, doctors have no way to give patients the answers they want. Sometimes the tumor is very small but metastasis occurs at an early stage, sometimes the tumor is very big but distant metastasis has not yet occurred and can be surgically removed, so every person’s situation is different and has to be treated specifically, so whether the tumor is found to be able to have a chance of surgical treatment, whether it is suitable for surgery or whether it is chemotherapy or not all need to have accurate examination results. First of all, we need to improve the examination. When a tumor is found, the hospital has to diagnose it clearly for treatment. With objective examination, we can treat the tumor in a non-discriminatory way, and accurately determine the staging of the tumor, which is also more conducive to the treatment according to the treatment guideline, and there is a basis to be relied on, so we need to evaluate the tumor first. For example, after gastroscopy is done to find gastric cancer, CT examination should also be done to see the depth of tumor infiltration, whether it has invaded other organs, and whether there are metastatic lymph nodes around it. In addition, if ultrasound or CT imaging is done first to find out the tumor, biopsy should also be taken in order to confirm the diagnosis of the tumor, so as to make sure that it is safe and sound. Stomach and intestines are hollow organs, divided into inner and outer layers, gastroscopy and enteroscopy are observed from the inside, to determine whether the lesion has involved the outer layer requires CT, MRI and other tests to assess, for example, whether the tumor has grown out? What is the condition of the surrounding lymph nodes? Are there metastases in the liver, lungs or abdominal cavity? All these are closely related to the possibility of surgical treatment. If the tumor is still relatively small and limited, there is no unresectable distant metastasis before the value of surgical radical treatment. Therefore, the early and late stages of the tumor cannot be answered by a single gastroscopy, colonoscopy or ultrasound report. Only after understanding the specific situation of the tumor can we have a way to further treat it, rather than hastily doing surgery first and formulating a plan Patients and patients’ family members often anxiously ask: “Doctor, when can we do the surgery? Is it better to operate as soon as possible?” Of course, we should operate as early as possible if we can, but we also have to consider whether the patient is suitable for surgery or not. Generally speaking, it is better if the tumor is confined to the primary site, without peripheral invasion, liver metastasis, etc. Nowadays, basically surgery can be performed, but if metastasis occurs, it needs to be analyzed separately. With the deepening of people’s understanding of solid tumors, the treatment of tumors is no longer a single mode of surgical resection. Doctors cannot be forced to perform surgery, if it is not possible to completely remove the tumor, it is a palliative surgery, which is not necessarily good for the patient. Therefore, some advanced patients may need to do chemotherapy first to make the tumor go down to a lower stage before fighting for the chance of surgery. Preoperative radiotherapy is a neoadjuvant therapy, which also aims at controlling or even curing the tumor more effectively. After the examination, the doctor will judge the condition of the tumor, for example, the liver metastasis of colorectal cancer, whether the metastasis of this liver segment can be radically resected at the same time, and finally determine the most suitable treatment plan. Of course, there are also other conditions to be examined such as whether the patient’s heart and lung function is good, whether he/she can tolerate the surgery or not, whether his/her nutritional status is still not good (too bad will affect the post-operative recovery), and so on. Therefore, the first diagnosis of cancer patients and their families do not need to be busy anxious about when to operate, seriously consult with relevant experts to understand the most suitable for their own treatment program is the most important. Learn to control your emotions and handle the situation calmly, and do a good job of humanistic care Anyone who faces a diagnosis of cancer is a bolt from the blue, and it is even more important to handle the situation calmly and rationally, which is especially important for the family members of the patient’s next-of-kin. When we don’t know something, we are more likely to panic. We shouldn’t panic and rush to the doctor. What we need to do is to reassure the patient, actively cooperate with the doctor, and give the patient the most reasonable treatment.