Esophageal cancer: many people mistake it for pharyngitis! These 4 symptoms, it is good to find one in advance

"I can't persuade others to drink while it's still hot..." Uncle Zhang sighed.

Uncle Zhang is a Chaoshan little old man who loves to eat and drink. Every day, he invites relatives and friends to come to his house for tea and chat. He often takes out his cherished Shancong to make kung fu tea for his friends, and also asks them to taste the tea while it is hot.

But just 2 months ago, Uncle Zhang felt that there was always something stuck in the middle of his throat, and it couldn't go up or down. At first, I thought it was getting angry, but I didn't care. I went to a familiar Chinese medicine clinic and prescribed a few medicines for conditioning. I thought it would be good if the "fire" went down.

But I did not expect that after drinking Chinese medicine for almost a month, the symptoms of anger still did not subside, and the sense of obstruction continued to intensify. Later, it was difficult to swallow liquid food . As a result, I went to the hospital for examination and found that it turned out to be an esophageal tumor.

It turned out that Uncle Zhang, in addition to drinking kung fu tea, also smoked shisha and drank two or two small wines on weekdays. Drinking tea makes him hungry. He also often makes some pickles and pickles seafood as snacks.

And these bad eating habits eventually lead to the occurrence of esophageal cancer.

Many people often mistake esophageal cancer as "fire" or pharyngitis, thus delaying the treatment of the disease, and eventually leading to esophageal cancer at an advanced stage as soon as it is discovered, and lymphoma metastasis has already occurred.

So what can we do to identify cancer signals and prevent them early?

1. Still "eat while it's hot"? Foods over 54°C may increase the risk of esophageal cancer

"Eat while it's hot", "The dishes are getting cold, hurry up and eat them quickly"... Similar words are very common at the dining table. Most people think that dishes are delicious only when they are hot, but they don't know that this behavior is indeed esophageal cancer. the "accomplice".

Published in the British Journal of Cancer, the research team of Professor Li Zhiyuan from the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explored esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and food temperature, and found that TRPV2 gene expression in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was generally higher than that in the normal esophagus group. be high.

Further research found that the use of thermal stimulation at 54 °C can activate the expression of TRPV2 gene, which in turn promotes the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells. After the TRPV2 gene was activated, the migration ability of esophageal cancer cells in the patients was also significantly enhanced.

That is to say, the temperature exceeding 54 ℃ will promote the occurrence and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma .

And just before that, a number of studies have found that the behaviors of "eat while hot" and "drink more hot water" often done in China will increase the risk of esophageal cancer:

• A report published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in "Lancet Oncology" shows that hot drinks above 65°C may cause esophageal cancer or throat cancer;
• American Cancer Society researchers also found that drinking two cups (about 700 ml) of hot water over 60 ℃ a day can increase the risk of esophageal cancer by 90%.

The esophagus is the place where food flows, and it is very fragile, but because the esophagus is not sensitive to temperature, it is often mistaken for a strong organ.

In fact, the temperature that the esophageal mucosa can withstand is 10°C to 50°C. Excessive temperature will cause damage to the mucosa. When repeated injuries, it will cause trauma and chronic inflammation , promote cell proliferation, and then induce the occurrence of esophageal cancer. .

Second, esophageal cancer many people mistakenly think it is pharyngitis!

China is a big country with esophageal cancer. According to estimates by relevant authoritative institutions, the incidence of esophageal cancer in China will rank sixth and the mortality rate will rank fourth in 2020. The 5-year survival rate of advanced esophageal cancer is less than 20%, so early diagnosis and early treatment are very important. important.

Choking feeling on swallowing is a typical manifestation of esophageal cancer, but this symptom is similar to that of chronic pharyngitis. Many patients often delay diagnosis and treatment due to confusion of the condition.

The choking feeling caused by pharyngitis is uncomfortable even when swallowing saliva; and the choking feeling caused by esophageal cancer is from light to heavy , from the roughness of the food to the softness, gradually.

What are the symptoms of esophageal cancer?

1. Food choking

This is a more common early symptom, which is usually obvious at the entrance, disappears immediately, and appears once in a few days or months.

2. Foreign body sensation in the esophagus

About 15%-21% of patients will be swallowing food, and they will notice a foreign body sensation in the esophagus, and feel that they cannot spit or swallow.

3. Difficulty swallowing

90% of patients seek medical attention because of this symptom. The swallowing sensation caused by esophageal cancer will gradually increase, and in the most serious case, no dripping water will enter.

4. Pain when swallowing

Most of them are pain when eating and swallowing. Patients with advanced stage may have retrosternal or back pain, which is dull or dull pain, and also has burning and tingling.

3. Nearly half of the world's esophageal cancers are located in China, and the 4 major culprits should be avoided

China is one of the countries with the highest incidence of esophageal cancer in the world, and the incidence is close to half of the world. Esophageal cancer can be divided into esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma. The former is more common in China, accounting for about 90% to 95% of all esophageal cancers.

Esophageal cancer in China also has a certain regionality, mainly concentrated in Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan Basin, the northern Jiangsu area of ​​Jiangsu, and the border area of ​​Fujian and Guangdong.

It is not difficult to see that the high incidence of esophageal cancer in China, in addition to eating too hot as mentioned above, is also inseparable from the following eating habits.

1. Like to eat pickled food

Coastal areas like to pickle salted fish and sausages very much. In Shanxi, Henan and other regions, basically every household picks pickled cabbage, bean paste, etc. These pickled foods contain a lot of nitrates and nitrites, which are important factors that cause cancer.

2. Eat too rough

If the food is too hard to chew thoroughly, the "corners" of the food will scratch the esophageal mucosa and cause mucosal damage, which will lead to the occurrence of esophageal cancer.

3. Both tobacco and alcohol

Cigarettes and alcohol are both carcinogens. Both of these foods can cause strong irritation to the esophageal mucosa. For esophageal cancer, the risk of esophageal cancer increases by 3-8 times for smokers, and it is as high as 50 times for drinkers!

If you want to prevent esophageal cancer, in addition to avoiding the above high-risk factors, you should also pay attention to keep exercising, keep your mood comfortable, and have regular physical examinations. When choking occurs, accompanied by chest tightness, chest pain and other problems, you should seek medical treatment in time to stop the progression of the disease as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, eating it while it is still hot can cause cancer. In the future, everyone should not be too impatient to eat, the food will cool down, eat healthier, and eat with more confidence.

References:

[1] "Still persuading people to "eat while it's hot"? Foods exceeding 54°C can increase the risk of esophageal cancer! ". Health Times. 2022-09-06

[2] "Expert Interview | Prof. Zhao Lin: The Latest Research Progress of Esophageal Cancer". Mays Medicine. 2022-10-25

[3] "If these symptoms appear in the throat, it is not "pharyngitis", it may be esophageal cancer upper body! ". Lao Du said health. 2022-08-22

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