China is one of the high-risk areas for esophageal cancer in the world. According to data from the World Health Organization, there were 324000 new cases of esophageal cancer and 301000 deaths in China in 2020, accounting for over half of the global incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer. The prognosis of esophageal cancer is poor, but the 5-year survival rate of early esophageal cancer patients after treatment can reach 95%. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment strategies are crucial for improving the survival rate of esophageal cancer.
Risk Factors for Esophageal Cancer
1. Nitrosamines and Nitrosamine Compounds: Nitrosamine compounds are important factors in inducing esophageal cancer. Research shows that in the diet of residents in the high incidence area of esophageal cancer, these nitrosamines generally exist in pickled Chinese cabbage, salted fish and other foods they eat daily.
2. Mold: Various molds found in moldy food have carcinogenic effects on the human body, and mold has a synergistic effect with nitrosamines in terms of carcinogenesis.
3. Malnutrition: The lack of vitamins, trace elements, and other nutrients caused by malnutrition is also an important factor leading to the occurrence of esophageal cancer.
4. Smoking: Cigarettes contain nitrosamines, which have a strong carcinogenic effect.
5. Alcohol consumption: Alcohol itself does not have carcinogenic effects, but it may be a solvent for carcinogens, making it easier for carcinogens to enter the esophageal mucosa; Alcohol can also cause dehydration and damage to the esophageal mucosa, creating conditions for the occurrence of esophageal cancer.
6. Poor dietary habits: Long term consumption of excessively hot, hard, rough, and spicy foods can cause damage to the esophageal mucosa, and repeated damage can lead to mucosal hyperplasia, ultimately leading to cancer.
7. Genetic factors: Esophageal cancer has familial clustering, which may be related to patients having a common genetic background, or it may be caused by patients and their families being exposed to specific environmental factors.
8. Demographic factors: The incidence rate of esophageal cancer in China gradually increases with age. The diagnosis age of esophageal cancer in male patients is earlier than that in female patients. The incidence rate and mortality of esophageal cancer in men are about 2 to 4 times that in women.
Symptoms and Diagnosis of Esophageal Cancer
Early symptoms of esophageal cancer are not obvious. If the following signals appear, be alert.
1. Pain behind the sternum and below the xiphoid process: more common. Pain behind the sternum or below the xiphoid process when swallowing food. The nature of the pain can be burning, needle like, or pulling, and is more pronounced when swallowing rough, burning, or irritating food.
2. choking sensation during swallowing: The most common symptom, which can disappear on its own or recur.
3. Food retention or foreign body sensation: When swallowing food or drinking water, the food descends slowly and is accompanied by retention, as well as feelings of compression behind the sternum or food adhesion to the esophageal wall. The symptoms disappear after eating, and the location of the symptoms is often consistent with the lesion in the esophagus.
4. Dry and tight feeling in the throat: When swallowing dry and rough food, the dry and tight feeling in the throat is obvious, often related to the patient's emotional fluctuations.
5. There is a feeling of tightness behind the sternum: Patients with tightness behind the sternum often cannot accurately describe their symptoms and only feel chest tightness and discomfort.
If the above symptoms occur, it is necessary to seek medical attention actively. Gastroscopy examination can provide a visual understanding of the presence or absence of lesions, while also facilitating the extraction of diseased tissue for pathological examination.
Prevention of Esophageal Cancer
1. Develop good lifestyle habits to prevent overeating, eating too quickly, and consuming too coarse food.
2. Avoid consumption and contact with moldy foods, nitrites, secondary amines, etc.
3. Maintain a regular diet, adhere to a low salt, low oil, and light diet, increase intake of fruits and vegetables, and balance nutrition.
4. Pay attention to oral hygiene, rinse your mouth after meals, brush your teeth regularly, and reduce the occurrence of oral diseases such as dental caries.
5. Quit smoking and drinking, and adhere to a healthy lifestyle of moderate exercise.
6. Actively treat the primary esophageal disease to prevent cancer progression, and proactively screen for early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions.