On December 12, the news of the death of actor Tu swept the network. It is reported that Tu was diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer in mid-November this year, and underwent two rounds of chemotherapy, but finally failed to save his life at the age of 61. In less than a month, a living life passed away. How terrifying is esophageal cancer?
Nearly half of the world's esophageal cancers are in China
Esophageal cancer has seriously threatened the life, health and safety of our people. Authoritative data show that nearly half of the world's esophageal cancer occurs in China. In 2020, there were 320,000 new cases of esophageal cancer and 300,000 cases of dead esophageal cancer in China, ranking sixth and fourth in the number of new cancer cases and deaths, respectively.
Esophageal cancer has a regional cluster, China's Guangdong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi and other places, is a high incidence of esophageal cancer areas. Clinically, due to factors such as the early symptoms of esophageal cancer are not obvious, about 50% of patients have developed to the middle and advanced stages when they are diagnosed, missing the best time for treatment.
Why are more and more people being targeted by esophageal cancer? The reason is mainly related to poor eating habits. Experts pointed out that Chinese drinking, eating pickled foods, drinking hot tea, eating spicy and other eating habits, the damage to the esophagus is huge, and the risk of esophageal cancer is increased to varying degrees.
Second, Chinese favorite "eat while hot", or cancer accomplices
When it comes to eating, no one in any other country is more knowledgeable than Chinese. In food culture, Chinese have a tradition of "eating while hot". On the one hand, because the food is mainly hot food, the flavor of hot food is better; on the other hand, because Chinese hospitality, if you greet guests with cold rice and cold tea, it is a manifestation of not understanding etiquette.
However, eating food that is too hot does not have much benefit for the body. In fact, WHO has included hot drinks above 65 °C on the "Class 2A carcinogens" list.
Taking hot tea as an example, a study published in the International Journal of Cancer pointed out that drinking overheated tea increases the risk of esophageal cancer. The researchers followed 50,000 Iranians for 10 years and analyzed the temperature of their tea drinking and the incidence of esophageal cancer, and found that people who drank 2 cups of tea above 60°C per day had a 90 percent higher risk of developing esophageal cancer than those who rarely drank tea or drank hot tea.
The journal Lancet Oncology also published an evaluation report that pointed out that people living in China, Turkey and South American countries who prefer to drink hot drinks with a temperature of 65-70 ° C or more have a higher risk of developing esophageal cancer.
Yu Zhenghong, deputy director of the Department of Oncology of Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region and associate professor of Nanjing University and Second Military Medical University, said that the epithelium of the esophagus mucosa is very delicate and fragile, and food with too high temperature will cause damage to the esophageal mucosa. If the damage recurs, it is easy to cause epithelial cell degeneration, creating favorable conditions for cancer cell growth, and eventually inducing esophageal cancer. In addition to damaging the mucosa of the esophagus, overheated food will also cause certain damage to the gums, teeth, mouth, stomach, etc., causing corresponding health problems.
Of course, this is not to say that we can not touch a little hot food, can only eat "cold" food, but that try not to eat food and beverages above 65 ° C for a long time, especially just out of the pot, hot food, also need to wait a little while, wait for the temperature to drop before entering.
In addition to frequently eating hot food and drinking hot drinks, the causes of esophageal cancer also include family genetics, lack of vitamins, smoking, drinking, and long-term eating of pickled food, barbecue food, fried food, etc., these high-risk factors also need to pay attention to prevention.
Third, from the diagnosis to death is only one month, early detection is the key to treatment
From diagnosis to death, it took less than a month, which shows how rapid the development of advanced esophageal cancer is. But in fact, if esophageal cancer can be found abnormal at an early stage and treated in a timely and standardized manner, the survival rate can be greatly improved.
The 5-year survival rate of early esophageal cancer and advanced esophageal cancer varies greatly, and the treatment effect of early esophageal cancer is ideal, and the 5-year survival rate can reach 90%. In the late stages, the difficulty of treatment is greatly increased, and the 5-year survival rate is only about 20%.
Advanced esophageal cancer has lost the opportunity for surgery, and can only be treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and interventional therapy, but the effect is not large, because the cancer cells have spread and metastasized, and the risk of serious complications is relatively high. Patients have difficulty swallowing, inability to eat, unbearable pain, and are likely to leave in regret. This is also the reason why Tu People still regrets to die even after 2 times of chemotherapy.
Therefore, for esophageal cancer, early diagnosis and early treatment is the key, and timely grasping the early "clues" is an important measure to prevent and treat cancer.
Fourth, these early signals should be discovered in time
When the following abnormalities occur in the body, it means that you may have been targeted by esophageal cancer, and you should be vigilant and seek medical attention as soon as possible to find out the cause:
1. Foreign body sensation in the throat
When swallowing food, there will be a pronounced foreign body sensation and burning sensation in the throat. At this point, esophageal cancer is easily confused with laryngitis. The difference is that the throat caused by laryngitis has a foreign body sensation, which will be reduced or disappeared when eating or swallowing, and should be learned to distinguish.
2. Choking sensation in swallowing
When swallowing, esophageal cancer will cause a pronounced feeling of stagnation or choking, and the degree of difficulty swallowing is gradually aggravated with the progression of the disease, according to the nature of food, from solid, semi-solid, to liquid, water order. The choking sensation caused by laryngitis is independent of what kind of food is eaten, and when swallowing food, the choking sensation will be reduced rather than aggravated.
3, food passes slowly and has a sense of staying
When swallowing food, it can be clearly felt that the throat becomes dry, the speed of food through the throat becomes slower, and there is a certain difficulty, and even stay in the throat for a certain period of time, it takes a lot of effort to swallow the food, accompanied by a strong sense of discomfort.
4. Pain in the back of the sternum
While swallowing food with a foreign body sensation, esophageal cancer can also cause a pronounced feeling of sternal pulling, pressure, swelling, and pain, which occur intermittently and are aggravated when the rate of eating is accelerated. The concomitant symptom of laryngitis is not retrosternal pain, but dryness, itching, or a brief, severe cough in the pharynx.
In addition to the above 4 more typical symptoms, esophageal cancer can also cause loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss in a short period of time and other systemic symptoms, we should pay attention to observation.
When symptoms of suspected esophageal cancer appear, gastroscopy, esophageal angiography, or CT should be performed as soon as possible. Gastroscopy is a powerful tool for finding early esophageal cancer, in the process of gastroscopy, whether the local mucosa of the esophagus has tumors or cancers, you can see clearly.
For asymptomatic high-risk groups of esophageal cancer, regular screening should also be carried out to prevent the occurrence of disease. People over the age of 40, people with a family history of esophageal cancer, people living in areas with a high incidence of esophageal cancer, and people with precancerous lesions of esophageal cancer are all at high risk of esophageal cancer.
Fifth, the prevention of esophageal cancer, starting from "keeping your mouth shut"
To prevent esophageal cancer, we must first prevent "disease from entering the mouth", develop good eating habits, eat three meals a day regularly, do not hunger for a full meal, do not overeat, chew slowly when eating, do not gobble, reduce the burden of the esophagus and stomach.
Do not be "hot" in the diet, avoid ingesting hot food with a temperature of more than 65 ° C, and the safe eating temperature is 10-40 ° C; also do not often eat foods that are too rough, so as not to damage the mucosa of the esophagus. Quit smoking and limit alcohol, limit the intake of pickled, barbecue, fried and other foods, eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, and supplement dietary fiber and vitamins.
In addition, high-risk groups must pay attention to screening and timely detection of esophageal abnormalities in order to minimize the risk of esophageal cancer.
Resources:
[1] "Half of the esophageal cancer in China, like spicy, hot food, drinking, these bad habits do you have?" 》. Health Times.2021-03-31
[2] "Carcinogenic? Above 65°C, you have to be careful! The experiment takes you to see how hot your daily diet is" . Beijing Science and Technology News.2016-07-02
3] Early Signals of Esophageal Cancer, High-Risk Groups, Screening and Prevention. Gastrointestinal diseases.2021-03-23
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