Professor Zhang, who has just passed his prime, has always been in good health. Recently, Professor Zhang always felt a foreign body in his throat and had trouble swallowing. His children were afraid that he had esophageal cancer and urged him to go to the hospital for examination. So he went to the hospital for a barium swallow X-ray, which only revealed that the barium was slow to pass through the upper part of the esophagus and was slightly stagnant. The doctor said that his esophageal mucosa was smooth and there was neither mass nor stricture, unlike esophageal cancer. In theory, Prof. Zhang should be relieved to know this test result. However, his symptoms did not improve and he became more and more afraid of cancer. The results showed that Professor Zhang’s cervical spine was mildly restricted in movement, and the X-ray and CT showed that the physiological curvature of the cervical spine had disappeared, the cervical spine had moderate osteophytes, and the cervical spinal canal and transverse foramen had moderate stenosis. In other words, it is not the esophageal cancer but the cervical spine disease which seems to be cancer but not cancer that has been giving Professor Zhang no peace all day long recently. In this regard, Professor Zhang’s family is very confused, how can cervical spondylosis also cause “dysphagia”? Expert comment: As we all know, cervical spondylosis is a common and frequent disease in middle-aged and elderly people, with an incidence of 2% to 4%, which is common among long-term desk workers. In mild cases, headache, dizziness, nausea, neck and shoulder pain, numbness and weakness of the upper limbs, and in severe cases, paralysis, sexual function and urinary and fecal disorders, and even life-threatening. However, little is known about why cervical spondylosis can cause “dysphagia”. It turns out that the cervical spine is an integral part of the human crest, and because the structure around it is very complex, the symptoms of cervical spondylosis are also very diverse and complicated. Cervical spondylosis causes dysphagia mainly for the following 3 reasons: (1) Bone superfluous compression. Bone superfluous (osteophytes) can occur in various parts of the cervical spine, which generally does not cause dysphagia, but if the bone superfluous is large, it directly compresses the esophagus, making it bend and narrow. Some patients with small bone superfluous may suffer from “esophagitis” due to the frequent swallowing action and the stimulation and friction of the esophagus by the bone superfluous, which may cause burning pain and dysphagia when eating. (2) Sympathetic nerve stimulation. The sympathetic nerve around the vertebral artery is strained and compressed, which can cause spasm of the vertebral artery by reflex and aggravate the ischemia of the vertebral artery, while the stimulation of the sympathetic nerve can cause panic, breathlessness, nausea, vomiting, and esophageal spasm – swallowing will not be smooth. (3) Compression of the vertebral artery. Compression of any of the vertebral arteries can reduce the blood supply to the vertebral artery and lead to insufficient blood supply to the brain and crestal medulla, and the function is affected to varying degrees, so various symptoms occur, such as headache, vertigo, tinnitus, and blurred vision. Since the reflex center of swallowing action is in the medulla oblongata of the crura, the lack of blood supply to the medulla oblongata can cause swallowing dysfunction. Poor swallowing caused by cervical spondylosis must be accompanied by other symptoms, such as neck pain, tinnitus and dizziness, nausea and vomiting, or numbness of fingers and weakness of walking. Patients with cervical spondylosis have difficulty swallowing hard food, but it is easy to enter soft food; it is difficult to eat with the head up, but easy to eat with the head down. After eating, there is a transient tingling sensation, burning sensation and obstruction behind the sternum, which soon calms down. Even if the disease lasts longer, there is no progressive aggravation. The typical symptom of esophageal cancer is also dysphagia, and progressive aggravation is its characteristic. Whether it is hard food, soft food or liquid food, it is very difficult to eat, and even drops of water are not allowed to enter, and there are many secretions coming back from the esophagus. The patient gradually loses weight and has a malignant appearance, but other symptoms of cervical spondylosis do not usually appear. In addition, the diagnosis can be confirmed by the following examinations: 1.The detection rate of early cancer cells can reach 90% with the invasive balloon esophageal exfoliation cell examination with mesh in China. 2.Using the characteristic of tumor lesions easily absorbing radionuclide phosphorus, it can help the early detection of cancer. 3.Esophagoscopy. In conclusion, dysphagia is a common symptom, which can be found in many diseases, and it is not the patent of esophageal cancer. Patients with dysphagia should accept the objective fact and not make subjective assumptions and guesses, which will damage the mind and body. Therefore, those who have the above symptoms should be examined comprehensively in time and pay attention to cervical origin diseases, instead of treating headache and foot pain.