Where does esophageal cancer usually cause discomfort?

Esophageal cancer generally causes patients to experience discomfort in the esophagus and surrounding tissues, including difficulty swallowing, pain when swallowing, reflux and vomiting, chest and back pain, respiratory symptoms, nerve paralysis symptoms, etc.

1. Dysphagia: This is the most important and prominent symptom of esophageal cancer. Patients will feel choking or difficulty swallowing. Even early patients will have swallowing discomfort, which will gradually develop into progressive dysphagia. They may have difficulty eating from solid food to semi-liquid and liquid diets.

2. Pain when swallowing: When eating, especially when consuming irritating foods such as overheated, acidic, and spicy foods, patients will feel burning and stabbing pain behind the sternum. Advanced patients may also experience persistent penetrating chest and back pain, which may be caused by invasion of cancer tissue or vertebral metastasis.

3. Reflux and vomiting: As the tumor develops, luminal obstruction may lead to retention of food residues in the esophagus, resulting in reflux and vomiting. Vomitus is mostly a mixture of food, saliva and mucus, and may sometimes contain blood or ulcerated tissue.

4. Chest and back pain: Patients may feel heaviness, pain and obstruction behind the sternum when swallowing food, and a few patients may experience irritation and burning sensations. This pain can sometimes radiate to the back or throat.

5. Respiratory system symptoms: Cancer compression of the trachea may cause respiratory system symptoms such as coughing and difficulty breathing.

6. Symptoms of nerve paralysis: When the cancer invades the recurrent laryngeal nerve, the patient may experience hoarseness; when it invades other nerves, other corresponding nerve paralysis symptoms may also appear.

The discomfort of esophageal cancer patients is mainly concentrated in the esophagus and surrounding tissues, and may gradually worsen as the disease progresses. If the above symptoms occur, it is recommended to seek medical treatment for diagnosis and treatment in time.