Source: Health Times reporter Zhao Yuanzhi
On December 12, the famous actor and director Tu Men died of esophageal cancer, only one month from diagnosis to death, at the age of 61.
In the afternoon of the same day, the reporter contacted an agent who has been engaged in the film and television industry for a long time, and the industry told reporters that Tu was diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer in early November, did two rounds of chemotherapy in Beijing, and returned to his hometown of Hulunbuir at the end of November.
After the news of Tu's death came out, many people in the circle sent articles to mourn, and the China Filmmakers Association issued a tribute, saying, "Tu's life is full of pure affection for the country and the people, and full of sincere love for film art." His sudden death is a great loss to the Chinese film industry, and we are deeply saddened and regretful. ”
Tus. Pictured from Tumen's studio
Over the past few decades, Tu's acting skills have been affirmed by the audience, and he has starred in many word-of-mouth masterpieces, such as "Breaking into the Kanto", "Zhenguan Long Song" and "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu", which have left a deep impression on the audience. Tu Men made his debut with his debut film "Genghis Khan", and was subsequently known as "Genghis Khan's professional household" for playing Genghis Khan many times. In addition, in 2017, he won the "Best Actor of the 54th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards" for his film "Old Beast"; in 2021, the film "Heavenly Road" directed by Tu Men was shortlisted for the 5th Pingyao International Film Festival.
However, it is difficult to accept that in November, Tu was still recording a program, from the diagnosis of advanced esophageal cancer to his death in just one month.
Why is half of the world's esophageal cancer patients in China?
According to the latest global cancer burden data in 2020, there were 324,000 new cases of esophageal cancer in China, ranking 6th in tumorigenesis, with 301,000 deaths, ranking 4th in tumor deaths.
Esophageal cancer is a common cancer with a poor prognosis. According to the latest statistics published in The Lancet-Gastroenterology and Hepatology, China accounts for nearly half of the global burden of esophageal cancer incidence and death. The five main risk factors for esophageal cancer were: smoking (39.0%), alcohol consumption (33.8%), high body mass index (BMI) (19.5%), low dietary fruit intake (19.1%), and chewing tobacco (7.5%).
"The prevalence of esophageal cancer in China is characterized by a higher incidence of males than women, a higher incidence in rural areas than in cities, and a high incidence area mainly concentrated in the vicinity of the Taihang Mountains, including Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong Tai'an, Jining, Heze, Anhui, Jiangsu northern Jiangsu and so on." Hao Anlin, director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Anyang Cancer Hospital in Henan Province and a second-level professor, told the Health Times reporter.
Why are there so many esophageal cancer patients in China? Hao Anlin said that the formation of tumors generally to go through 10-20 years of accumulation, esophageal cancer causes many causes, from the perspective of external factors, patients generally like to eat pickled food, eat faster, like to eat hot, delicious spicy and alcoholic, etc.; from the perspective of internal factors, in addition to genetic factors, oral virus and bacterial infections, low immune status, etc. are easy to lead to the occurrence of esophageal cancer.
Hao Anlin told the Health Times reporter that the early symptoms of esophageal cancer are not typical and are easy to ignore, such as retrosternal discomfort or foreign body sensation, burning sensation, etc., until the middle and advanced stages of the lesion will appear the typical symptoms of progressive swallowing difficulties. Hao Anlin suggested that people over the age of 50 should be rechecked once every 2 years, and people with family history should be rechecked once a year, and generally can be examined through esophagoscopy.
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Xu Ruilian, attending physician of the Department of Integrative Medicine of Nanjing Jiangning Hospital, combed the tips for staying away from esophageal cancer on the People's Daily Health account.
1. Change your eating habits
Poor eating habits are an important cause of esophageal cancer. For example, like to eat hot food, smoked or pickled food, hard and rough food, spicy and irritating food, fried and roasted food, these foods will damage the mucosal epithelial cells of our esophagus, causing inflammation of the esophagus and increasing the risk of esophageal cancer. Moreover, eating too fast and eating in large mouths will also increase the burden on the esophagus.
Increasing the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables will reduce the risk of esophageal cancer. This is because the fiber, dietary vitamin C and carotene in fruits and vegetables can fight the development of esophageal cancer.
2. Quit smoking and limit the amount of alcohol consumed
The carcinogenicity of tobacco and alcohol is presumably needless to say. Smoking is recognized as a carcinogenic factor in esophageal cancer, and acetaldehyde produced by alcohol consumption is defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a definitive carcinogen of esophageal cancer. If smoking is also combined with alcohol, the two will jointly promote the occurrence of esophageal cancer. The more you smoke and the more you drink, the sooner esophageal cancer occurs.
3. Timely supplementation of vitamins and trace elements
Studies have found that in many areas with high incidence of esophageal cancer in China, these residents are often deficient in trace elements such as iron, molybdenum, zinc, manganese, selenium, folic acid, riboflavin and vitamins A, C, E and B2. For high-risk groups of esophageal cancer, they should check whether their trace elements or vitamins are deficient in time, and pay attention to supplementation to prevent the occurrence of esophageal cancer as much as possible. People who lack these nutrients should also supplement in time.
4. Actively treat precancerous diseases of esophageal cancer
If you have a disease that can progress to esophageal cancer, be sure to actively treat the disease. For example, Barrett 's esophagus, gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal diverticulum, esophageal leukoplakia or polyps, achalasia, etc., in addition to the treatment of the disease, it is also necessary to conduct regular esophageal examination to detect the possibility of cancer as soon as possible.
5. Overweight people should actively control their weight
Fat can provide energy to tumor cells to support its growth and tumor progression, so people who are overweight have a higher risk of cancer. Moreover, the increase in waist circumference increases the risk of gastroesophageal reflux, resulting in loss of the esophagus. In addition, because this abdominal obesity will increase the pressure inside the abdomen, it will destroy the normal physiological structure of the esophagus, and will also increase the risk of esophageal cancer to a certain extent. It can be said that the more fat meat accumulates in the waist and abdomen, the higher the risk of esophageal cancer.
6. Pay attention to oral hygiene
Every time we drink water or eat something, we can bring bacteria from our mouth into our esophagus. Therefore, oral hygiene and the occurrence of esophageal cancer are closely linked. Compared with people who maintain good oral hygiene, people who do not pay attention to oral hygiene can increase the content of nitrosamines in the mouth by 8 times, and nitrosamines are a clear carcinogenic factor for esophageal cancer.
