Prevention/Family Teaching
You can take steps to reduce your risks of esophageal cancer for instance:
Quit smoking. If you smoke, take to the doctor about strategies for quitting. Medication and counseling are available.
Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all.
Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Maintain a healthy weight. If you are overweight or obese, talk to your doctor about strategies to help you lose weight. Aim for a slow and steady weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds a week.
Control gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD). See your doctor about getting GERD under control, it can be controlled early enough to possibly prevent esophageal cancer.
Description of Disease/
Signs and Symptoms
Esophageal cancer is cancer of the tube that runs from
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Gastrointestinal: belching, blood in stool, hiccups, indigestion, nausea, regurgitation, vomiting, or vomiting blood.
Also swollen lymph nodes, or lumps in the throat.
Risk Factors/
Diagnostic Testing
Significant risk factors for esophageal cancer include:
Smoking
Poorly controlled acid reflux
Drinking alcohol
Drinking very hot liquids
Lack of eating fruits and vegetables
Being obese
Having precancerous changes in the cells of the esophagus.
Difficulty swallowing because of an esophageal sphincter that won't relax (achalasia).
Undergoing radiation treatment to the chest or upper abdomen.
Diagnostic testing:
Using a scope to examine your esophagus (endoscopy).
Collecting a sample of tissue for testing (biopsy).
Treatment
.
Treatment for esophageal cancer focuses on removing the cancer through surgery. Chemotherapy and radiation also may be used.
Common treatments:
Chemotherapy regimen: Neoadjuvant therapy
Procedures: Nasogastric intubation, External beam radiotherapy, Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, Lymphadenectomy, Therapeutic endoscopy, Gastrostomy, Radiation therapy, Digestive system surgery.
Other common treatments: Esophagogastrectomy, Jejunostomy,
is done for this type of tumor is to treat the symptoms and palliative care of the
High-energy rays (radiation therapy) to help shrink or kill the tumor. There are different types of radiation therapy,
Firstly, in hopes of understanding what esophageal cancer is, one must first understand what the esophagus is. The esophagus is a muscular tube connecting your throat to your stomach. It’s primary purpose it to transport food to the stomach and is usually between 10 – 13 inches long. Furthermore, the esophagus is lined with smooth muscle tissue, which causes contracts without conscious thought, moving the food along to the
Esophagus cancer or its scientific name esophageal cancer is caused by smoking and or drinking too much.Upper endoscopy (EGD) will be used to obtain a tissue sample from the esophagus to diagnose cancer. When the cancer is only in the esophagus and has not spread, surgery will be done. The cancer and part, or all, of the esophagus is removed. This operation is done in 2 ways Open surgery or you can go for Minimally invasive surgery, while radiation may also help.Chemo and, or radiation surgery can be used to shrink the cancer. The patient will not only have to change their diet after these treatments they may also have to; dilate the esophagus, use a feeding tube, or Photodynamic therapy(a special drug is injected into the tumor and is then
If you are a smoker, stop smoking. It is the best thing you can do for the health of the heart.
Once the doctor has determined what stage of cancer you have then a course of treatment can be discussed. If you are diagnosed early enough the Doctors can perform and surgery called the Whipple procedure. It involves removing the head of the pancreas, a portion of your small intestine, gall bladder, part of the bile duct, and part of your stomach. The doctor then reconnects what left of your stomach, pancreas, and intestines so you can digest food. Side effects of this surgery can include risk of infection and bleeding, as well as some nausea and vomiting. There will be a long recovery after this procedure. Other forms of treatment are Radiation therapy, which uses x-rays to destroy cancer cells, and chemotherapy, which uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. There are also ongoing clinical trials, which look for new treatments. If the
Standard treatment for throat cancers include radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. For early-stage cancers, radiation may be the only treatment needed. For more advanced cancers, radiation may be combined with surgery and chemotherapy and certain targeted drug therapies that have fewer side effects than chemotherapy and that take advantage of defects in cancer cells that fuel their growth.
• Lose weight if you are overweight. Talk to your health care provider about a diet and exercise plan to safely lose weight.
Cheryl great post very concise and great information, I enjoyed reading, and a great question Dr. Catherine about the nonpharmacological management of gastro-esophageal reflux-GERD. In some cases lifestyle changes may be sufficient to relieve mild or intermittent symptoms of GERD. Therefore, lifestyle changes in combination of acid suppressant therapy can help control symptoms and reduce the need for medication. For example, weight loss can be very effective and improve symptoms (Katz, Gerson, &Vela, 2013). In addition, avoid some foods, such as spicy foods, as well as citrus and carbonated beverages can improve tremendously symptoms such as heartburn and reflex. Other commonly precipitants include fatty foods, caffeine and chocolate, lying
Esophageal cancer, or oesophageal cancer, is a lethal variation of cancer globally ranking sixth as the leading cause of cancer-associated deaths and eighth as the most common type of cancer (Pennathur et al. 2013). In contrast to other parts of the world, the United States has experienced a decrease in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma incidence rates and a distinct increase in esophageal adenocarcinoma, which corresponds to increased obesity and gastroesophageal reflux rates over the years (Simard et al. 2012). Along with increasing incidence rates, esophageal cancer is associated with a 15-25% survival rate of five years regardless of treatment, poor prognosis due to diagnosis during the cancer’s later stages, and predisposition to metastases regardless of tumor type (Pennathur et al. 2013, Chen et al. 2013). In addition, patients who have been treated are at risk for high incidences of recurrence and approximately 90% of patients are faced with mortality from esophageal cancer (Lou et al. 2013), all of which contributes to the poor prognosis associated with the disease. With increasing incidence rates and poor prognosis, esophageal cancer poses challenges to healthcare providers in finding effective and standardized guidelines with respect to screening, treatment, and surveillance.
Gastric cancer: they are adenocarcinomas (cancers that begin in cells that make and release mucus and other fluids). Other types of gastric cancer are gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and lymphomas.Infection with bacteria called H. pylori is a common cause of gastric cancer. Gastric cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage because there are no early signs or symptoms.
The first treatment option is surgery. There are many different ways of getting the surgery. The first way is called Lobectomy. What they would do is cut 1 of the 5 lobes to get rid of the tumor. The 2nd option is called a wedge resection. They do this if you can't have one of your lobes removed. They just remove the tumor and not a whole lobe. The 3rd option is segmentectomy. This is another option if you can't have a lobe be removed. The fourth and last surgery option is called Pneumonectomy. If the tumor is in the middle of the lung, you can get the whole lung removed.
There are a few different ways to be diagnosed and/or screened for stomach cancer. One way is an upper endoscopy. This allows the doctor to see anything not normal in the GI tract that wouldn’t be shown in an x-ray. Risks of this procedure usually don’t happen but if
• Change habits associated with smoking. If you smoked while driving or when feeling stressed, try other activities to replace smoking. Stand up when drinking your coffee. Brush your teeth after eating. Sit in a different chair when you read the paper. Avoid alcohol while trying to quit, and try to drink fewer caffeinated beverages. Alcohol and caffeine may urge you to smoke.
dont smoke. There is although a person of my circle who smokes a lot everyday and that is my unlce. All my life I can remember him smoking and trying to quit but never being able to. The only moment in his life when it seemed completely necessary and possible for him to quit was the day he found out he had cancer, but even by then time was running out. He died in March of 2003; At some point in your