Three disadvantages of surgical treatment of esophageal cancer

Surgery is the first choice for treating esophageal cancer, especially for patients with early esophageal cancer. The effect of surgical treatment is very good and there is a possibility of cure. However, surgical treatment also has certain disadvantages.

First, surgical treatment is limited by the patient's condition and has certain contraindications. For patients with esophageal cancer in the early stage, with small lesions, good general condition, and no cardiopulmonary dysfunction, surgical treatment can be considered. For patients in the middle and late stages, with poor general condition, heart, liver, and kidney dysfunction, and with distant metastasis, surgical treatment cannot be performed, or only partial resection can be performed to temporarily relieve symptoms.

Secondly, surgical treatment will produce some complications. The most common complication is bleeding, especially for patients with poor general condition, blood loss is undoubtedly aggravating their situation. In addition, surgical treatment may also leave behind complications such as lung disease, anastomotic stenosis, and anastomotic fistula.

Thirdly, surgical treatment cannot be widely used. The implementation of surgical treatment requires that the diagnosis and treatment institution has certain hardware facilities and the operating doctor has certain hands-on ability and experience, otherwise there will be serious consequences.