There are 4 early symptoms of esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is a common digestive tract disease that mostly occurs in men over 40 years old. It is very harmful to the physical and mental health of the human body, so we must ensure early detection and early treatment of this disease. In fact, there are four early symptoms of esophageal cancer in daily life, the most common of which is difficulty swallowing.

First: dry throat, chest tightness, and obstruction, which worsens when eating

Generally speaking, patients will not feel any discomfort in the early stages of esophageal cancer. As the tumor grows in the esophagus, there may be a feeling of fullness or tightness in the chest, often accompanied by a dryness in the throat. Patients feel that there is always a stuffy feeling in the chest, as if there is an object blocking the chest, making the chest feel tight. This feeling of blockage is particularly obvious when swallowing food. Since this feeling only occurs when eating and does not affect normal life and work, it is easily ignored.

Second: Foreign body sensation when eating, aggravated by swallowing dry and hard food

In the early stages, patients often experience a foreign body sensation when swallowing food. During the process of swallowing, food (especially dry and hard food) passes through the lesion area (when the tumor lesion is very small) and produces a foreign body sensation, and this foreign body sensation is always fixed in a certain part, as if there is something that can never be swallowed. Because the symptoms are mild and occur intermittently, they are easily overlooked by patients.

Third: intermittent feeling of fullness and slight pain behind the sternum

Some patients experience intermittent fullness or slight pain behind the sternum. This symptom does not occur continuously, but is often intermittent or worsens after fatigue or rapid eating. This is because the esophagus itself is constantly moving, and symptoms only appear when it moves to the diseased area.

Fourth: intermittent swallowing stagnation or frustration

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

The above early symptoms of esophageal cancer generally last for 3 months or even longer. If patients do not pay attention to these dangerous signals, the disease will be easily delayed and cannot be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.