I. Early Symptoms of Esophageal Cancer
1. The sense of obstruction and choking is the most common in the pharynx, which can disappear and recur on its own, and it does not affect eating. It often occurs when the patient's mood fluctuates, so it is easy to be mistaken as functional symptom. 2. Post sternal and subxiphoid pain is more common. When swallowing food, there is retrosternal or subxiphoid pain, the nature of which may be burning, pins and needles or pulling, characterized by swallowing rough, burning or irritating food. It is intermittent at the beginning, but when the cancer invades nearby tissues or has penetration, there can be severe and continuous pain. The site of pain often does not exactly coincide with the site of the lesion in the esophagus. The pain is mostly relieved temporarily by antispasmodic agents. 3. Food retention infection and foreign body sensation When swallowing food or drinking water, there is a feeling of slow downward movement of food and retention, as well as the sense of tightness behind the sternum or food adhering to the esophageal wall and other sensations, disappearing after eating. The location of the symptoms is often consistent with the location of the lesion in the esophagus. 4. Dryness and constriction of the throat, especially when dry and rough food is swallowed, are often associated with mood swings. 5. other symptoms, a few patients may have symptoms such as post-sternal tightness and discomfort, anterior pain and picking up breath.
2. Mid-term symptoms of esophageal cancer
1. The most common symptom is choking sensation under the throat, which can disappear and recur on its own and does not affect eating. It often occurs when the patient's mood fluctuates, so it is easy to be mistaken as functional symptom. 2. Post sternal and subxiphoid pain is more common. When swallowing food, there is retrosternal or subxiphoid pain, the nature of which may be burning, pins and needles or pulling, characterized by swallowing rough, burning or irritating food. It is intermittent at the beginning, but when the cancer invades nearby tissues or has penetration, there can be severe and continuous pain. The site of pain often does not exactly coincide with the site of the lesion in the esophagus. The pain is mostly relieved temporarily by antispasmodic agents. 3. Food retention infection and foreign body sensation when swallowing food or drinking water, there is a slow downward movement of food and retention of the feeling, as well as the tightness of the back of the sternum or food adherence to the esophageal wall and other sensations, disappear after eating. Symptoms occur in the same place as the lesion in the esophagus. 4. Dryness and constriction of the throat, especially when dry and rough food is swallowed, are often associated with emotional fluctuations of the patient. 5. Other symptoms, such as tightness and discomfort in the back of the sternum, anterior pain and picking up breath, etc., may be experienced by a small number of patients. Typical symptoms of mid-stage esophageal cancer: progressive dysphagia. There may be retrosternal pain during swallowing and spitting mucus-like sputum.
Three, advanced symptoms of esophageal cancer
1. Difficulty in swallowing: Progressive difficulty in swallowing is the main symptom of most of the patients, but it is the advanced stage of the disease. Because the esophageal wall is elastic and expandable, dysphagia occurs only when about 2/3 of the circumference of the esophagus is infiltrated by the cancer. Therefore, after the appearance of the above early symptoms, the disease gradually worsens in a few months, from inability to swallow solid food to inability to swallow liquid food. Difficulty in swallowing may be aggravated if the cancer is accompanied by inflammation, edema and spasm of the esophageal wall. The location of obstruction often conforms to the site of the cancer. 2. Food reaction often occurs when the difficulty in swallowing is aggravated, and the regurgitant flow is not large, containing food and mucus, or blood and pus. 3. Other symptoms: when the cancer compresses the recurrent laryngeal nerve, it may cause hoarseness; when it invades the phrenic nerve, it may cause eructation or phrenic nerve paralysis; when it compresses the trachea or bronchus, it may cause shortness of breath and dry cough; when it encroaches on the aorta, it may cause fatal hemorrhage. In the case of esophageal-tracheal or esophageal-bronchial fistula, or when the cancer is located in the upper part of the esophagus, cervical sympathetic paralysis can be produced when swallowing liquids.