Symptoms of Esophageal Cancer

Esophagus Cancer or Food Pipe Cancer is one of the most dangerous cancers. Sometimes this cancer starts at the beginning of the food pipe making it unsuitable for surgery. These cancers pose a challenge to cure.

What are the symptoms of esophageal cancer?

During the early stages of esophageal cancer, you probably won’t experience any symptoms. As your cancer progresses, you may experience:

• Unintentional weight reduction
• Difficulty in digestion
• Acid reflux / heartburn
• Difficulty in swallowing
• Frequent choking while eating
• Nausea or vomiting
• Food coming back up the esophagus
• Chest pain
• Fatigue / Malaise
• Chronic cough
• Hiccups

What causes esophageal cancer?

Likewise with most cancers, the reason for esophageal malignancy isn’t yet known. It’s accepted to be identified with irregularities (transformations) in the DNA of the cells identified with the throat. These changes signal the phones to duplicate more quickly than typical cells.

These transformations additionally disturb the sign for these cells to die when they ought to. This makes them to pile up and become cancers.

High precision radiation is a key tool to cure many such cancers which are otherwise not manageable by operation. Chemotherapy given with radiation at a small dose increases the effect of radiation and helps in achieving cure. Consultation with the best radiation oncologist in Delhi NCR is essential for receiving correct treatment.

This gentleman came to me with an extensive tumor which started at the food pipe but progressed upwards to reach the area of voice box. It was decided to treat him with high precision radiation. Chemotherapy was also given on a weekly basis during his radiation treatment.

The result is very much satisfying and within six weeks of finishing his treatment, he has achieved a complete response which can be seen in this PET-CT scan. The red arrows show the initial tumor and yellow arrows are indicating that there is no visible tumor in this scan.

A high quality radiation coupled with appropriate chemotherapy and good care during such treatment can help many of such difficult cancers to get cured.