What symptoms will patients with esophageal cancer experience?

Esophageal cancer is a disease that brings great pain and harm to patients. So what are the symptoms of esophageal cancer? Below, let the experts introduce the symptoms of esophageal cancer to you, hoping to help you learn more about the symptoms of esophageal cancer .

Pain or discomfort behind the sternum: Symptoms of esophageal cancer: About half of the patients complain of mild pain or discomfort behind the sternum when swallowing food. The pain is more obvious when swallowing rough, hard, hot or irritating food, and less pain when swallowing liquid or warm food. The pain is painful when swallowing food, and the pain is relieved or disappears after eating. Some individuals have severe and persistent pain, and the patients feel that the pain site is inconsistent with the lesions in the esophagus.

Pain: Chest pain or back pain is one of the common symptoms of mid- to late-stage esophageal cancer. The pain is dull, burning, or stabbing, and may be accompanied by a sense of heaviness. Chest and back pain is often caused by the invasion of cancer, which causes esophagitis and mediastinitis, and even affects adjacent organs, nerves, and paravertebral tissues. Pain is more common in ulcerative and medullary types with ulcers.

Dry throat: Symptoms of esophageal cancer include dryness and tightness in the throat, difficulty swallowing food or slight pain, which is especially obvious when swallowing dry or rough food. Food passes slowly and feels stagnant, and the same feeling also occurs when drinking water. In addition, some patients have symptoms such as heaviness in the back and belching. More than half of the patients take more than one year from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis, and some take more than four years. It is of great clinical significance to make a correct diagnosis and take correct treatment for early esophageal cancer.

The most common symptom of esophageal cancer is dysphagia: progressive dysphagia is the most typical symptom of middle and late stage esophageal cancer. It starts with the inability to swallow solid food smoothly, or swallowing it after washing it with soup. Then semi-liquid diet is also blocked, and finally liquid diet is also difficult to swallow. The degree of dysphagia is closely related to the pathological type. The stricture type and medullary type are more serious. Vomiting mucus: esophageal changes caused by esophageal lesions cause incomplete or complete obstruction of the esophagus, which makes the secretions difficult to drain and accumulate in the upper part of the esophageal stenosis, stimulating the reverse peristalsis of the esophagus and then vomiting. Masses in the neck and supraclavicular area: It is a common sign of late stage esophageal cancer. The mass is painless, progressively enlarges, and is hard. It is mostly on the left side, but can also be bilateral.

The above content is a simple introduction to the symptoms of esophageal cancer. Experts remind that esophageal cancer should be detected and treated early, which is the fundamental way to maintain health.