The body has cancer, leg prophet! These 4 symptoms appear in the legs, beware of malignant tumors "haunted"!
According to the 2020 Global Cancer Statistics Report, the number of new cancers worldwide reached 19.3 million in 2020. Most of the common cancers in mainland China are lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, bowel cancer, etc., but many cancers show insidious nature in the early stage. By the time patients perceive discomfort, most of them have entered the middle and advanced stages.
In fact, many cancers will have "sentinel" symptoms in the legs, and if we can correctly recognize these early signals, we can steal more treatment time with the disease.
Inexplicable swelling of the legs
When cancer cells wreak havoc in the human body, vascular nerves are also difficult to survive.
Most patients with malignant tumors have a hypercoagulable state of blood, and the flowing blood is prone to the formation of solid thrombus. As early as 150 years ago, Professor Armand Trousseau of France made statements about thrombophlebitis as a symptom of visceral malignancy.
It is known that the legs are rich in blood vessels and nerves. Therefore, the first symptoms of some cancer patients are lower limb discomfort, swelling and pain, and color ultrasound examination in the hospital found that the original unobstructed venous vessels have long been blocked by thrombus, forming deep vein thrombosis of the lower limbs. Especially patients with lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and gynecological tumors.
Studies have confirmed that the incidence of thrombosis in different tumors is as follows: primary brain tumor (47%), pancreatic cancer (19.2%), stomach cancer (15.8%), lung cancer (13.9%).
Therefore, once the leg is found to be swollen, it is best to go to the hospital for an examination, if it is not a blood clot caused by other reasons, you need to do a full physical examination to rule out whether it is because of cancer.
Leg color changes
Usually, there are generally no noticeable changes in the skin of the legs.
If the legs gradually darken, it may be caused by metabolic abnormalities, and one of the factors that induce metabolic abnormalities includes the invasion of cancer cells.
In addition to this, there is a change in the color of the skin on the legs caused by skin cancer.
Melanoma, for example, is a skin tumor caused by excessive proliferation of abnormal melanocytes.
Patients with early-stage melanoma may experience rapid enlargement of the original mole, changes in shape or color, and even symptoms and signs such as itching and bleeding. Specifically, the damaged part is raised, plaque and nodular, or mushroom-like or cauliflower-like, and the color is also gray-black, brown, light red and other messy color manifestations.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is also often manifested as color changes, which can be transformed from keratosis, mucosal leukoplakia and other precancerous diseases, in addition to color changes, it is often accompanied by a special smell of decay and foul odor.
A lump appears in the leg
In general, the appearance of lumps on the legs is mostly benign multiple lipomas.
However, there are also cases where cancer occurs and metastasizes in the legs. The lump in the leg caused by the cancer is likely to grow larger and larger in a short period of time, and it will feel harder to the touch than the usual muscle. And the edge of the mass is not clear, and it is adhered to the surrounding tissue, making it difficult to move.
In this case, it is necessary to consider whether there has been a metastasis of cancer cells.
When cancer cells metastasize in diseases such as lung cancer and prostate cancer, abnormalities may occur in the legs. Liposarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, acinar soft tissue sarcoma, etc., can also cause leg lumps.
The pain in the legs is excruciating
As cancer cells grow wildly and continuously absorb nutrients from the body, bone metastases may occur in addition to absorbing nutrients from the lesion.
Because bones are rich in blood and factors that promote the growth of cancer cells, the favorite parts of cancer cells are bone joints.
The Expert Consensus on the Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Malignant Tumor Bone Metastasis pointed out that breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, thyroid cancer and kidney cancer are the most prone to bone metastasis, and more than 90% of bone metastases are derived from these five tumors.
Once the cancer has metastasized and a new lesion has formed in the leg, it can cause intense pain. However, patients often mistake it for a disease caused by joint wear and tear, and thus procrastinate again and again.
At last
After entering the body, cancer cells hide in hiding and escape the pursuit of the immune system. After finding a foothold, it quietly multiplies until it grows in size and launches a fierce attack on human organs.
It is easy to forbid the small, but it is difficult to save the last. If you can detect some signals sent by the body early and check them in time, you can grasp these clues.
Share several common types of cancer prevention screening, and recommend regular physical examinations for high-risk groups.
Resources:
LIU Zongchao,LI Zhexuan,ZHANG Yang,ZHOU Tong,ZHANG Jingying,YOU Weicheng,PAN Kaifeng,LI Wenqing.Interpretation of 2020 global cancer statistical report[J].Electronic Journal of Comprehensive Cancer Therapy,2021,7(02):1-14.
[2] Donnellan E,Khorana AA. Cancer and Venous Thromboembolic Disease: A Review.Oncologist.2017
[3] Expert consensus on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of bone metastasis of malignant tumors
[4] People's Network. How to do a cancer prevention physical examination? After reading this article, I understand it all[EB/OL].http://health.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0701/c21471-28514469.html