Early symptoms of esophageal tumor

There are two types of esophageal tumors: benign and malignant. Benign esophageal tumors are relatively rare in clinical practice, which means that once an esophageal tumor is discovered, it is most likely to be malignant. Esophageal cancer is a malignant tumor with the typical symptom of progressive dysphagia. This disease is also one of the more common malignant tumors in clinical practice. my country is a country with a high incidence of esophageal cancer, with approximately 160,000 new cases each year. The symptoms of this disease are very hidden in the early stages and are therefore easily overlooked.

1. Early symptoms of esophageal cancer

1. As the tumor grows in the esophagus, there will be a feeling of fullness or tightness in the chest, often accompanied by a dry feeling in the throat. The patient feels that there is always a stuffy feeling in the chest, as if there is an object blocking it, making the chest feel tight. This feeling of blockage is particularly obvious when swallowing food.

2. This symptom does not occur continuously, but is intermittent or worsens after fatigue or when eating quickly. This is because the esophagus itself is constantly moving, and symptoms only appear when it moves to the diseased area.

3. During the swallowing process, food, especially dry and hard food, may cause a foreign body sensation when passing through the affected area, and the sensation is often fixed in one position. Because the symptoms are mild and occur intermittently, they are easily overlooked by patients.

4. When swallowing food, the patient seems to have a temporary stagnation and frustration at a certain part. This situation is not continuous and only becomes gradually obvious after the disease progresses.

5. The patient complained of a stuffy feeling in the chest, as if there was an object blocking it, causing a tight feeling in the chest, which was particularly obvious when swallowing food, but did not affect normal life and work.

6. Fullness and mild pain in the pit of the stomach, under the xiphoid process or in the upper abdomen, which is more obvious when eating dry food, but does not occur every time and is intermittent. This condition is often an early symptom of cardiac cancer.

2. Are esophageal tumors benign?

Esophageal tumors can be divided into benign and malignant. Benign esophageal tumors are relatively rare in clinical practice, and usually include the following types:

1. Esophageal leiomyoma: It occurs in the muscular layer of the esophageal wall and is more common in men. It is usually single and can rarely become malignant.

2. Intraluminal mucosal type: occurs when the mucosal layer grows into the lumen, such as polyps and papilloma

3. Submucosal type: occurs in the submucosal layer, such as esophageal hemangioma.

3. Differences in symptoms between esophageal cancer and pharyngitis

In many cases, some symptoms of esophageal cancer are confused with pharyngitis. The difference between pharyngitis and esophageal cancer is that the foreign body sensation in the throat of chronic pharyngitis is obvious when the patient is at rest, is alleviated or disappears when eating, and reappears after eating, and there is no sense of obstruction when eating, while in esophageal cancer, there is a foreign body sensation and obvious obstruction when swallowing, and it is often accompanied by pain behind the sternum and a burning sensation. In addition, in the early stages of esophageal cancer, when dysphagia has not yet occurred, the symptoms of pharyngeal discomfort are mostly manifested as chronic pharyngitis, which is a chronic inflammation of the pharyngeal mucosa, characterized by dryness, stuffiness, and tightness of the throat, and often with pressure behind the sternum, belching, etc.; the pharyngeal discomfort is mainly dryness, itching, burning sensation, etc., and these symptoms can cause the patient to cough frequently.