Precautions for gastroscopy in patients with esophageal cancer

In order to reduce the threat of esophageal cancer to people's health, it is important to do a good job of esophageal cancer examination as early as possible. Among them, gastroscopy can be said to be an indispensable examination.

Anyone over 50 years old who experiences a feeling of food stagnation or difficulty swallowing after eating should undergo a gastroscopy in a timely manner. Generally speaking, esophageal cancer is rarely missed during gastroscopy. If the gastroscopy photo is clear, even if it is done in a small hospital, and the examination report says that there is no esophageal lesion, it is generally fine and there is no need to go to a large hospital for repeated gastroscopy. However, if a gastroscopy in a small hospital finds esophageal lesions and it cannot be proven whether it is esophageal cancer or precancerous lesions, the patient should consult an experienced doctor or undergo further examination to confirm the diagnosis.

Gastroscopy can directly observe tiny lesions and is currently the main means of diagnosis for esophageal cancer. Once esophageal cancer is discovered, it is generally not easy to determine whether it is early or late stage cancer, because the early or late stage of cancer is not determined by the size of the tumor, nor is it the common understanding that a large tumor is late stage, but by the depth of tumor infiltration in the esophageal wall. When the tumor infiltrates more than half of the esophageal wall, it is in the advanced stage. Ultrasound endoscopy can be used to observe the depth of tumor infiltration. Therefore, in order to determine the treatment plan, doctors often recommend that patients undergo ultrasound endoscopy.

It is worth noting that the discovery of esophageal masses or ulcers during gastroscopy does not mean that it is a malignant tumor, because some benign lesions, such as esophageal tuberculosis and Crohn's disease, can also show similar symptoms. Therefore, it is necessary to take tissue for pathological examination when esophageal lesions are found during gastroscopy. If there is no clear result of the pathological examination report, the doctor will generally not take surgical treatment or rashly perform chemotherapy.