What are the early symptoms of cancer? If you are afraid of getting cancer, what tests should you do? Please bookmark

Cancer, in medicine, refers to malignant tumors originating from epithelial tissue and is the most common type of malignant tumors.

So why are we so afraid of cancer? Some dangers occur slowly, and patients, their families and doctors can foresee them and take necessary measures. Most of these patients have a chronic course, which lasts for days, weeks, months or even years. One or more important organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and brain gradually fail. They cannot eat for a long time, have very poor nutrition, suffer from severe pain, have rapid or weak breathing, become increasingly weak and emaciated, and eventually die. For example, liver cancer can lead to liver failure and hepatic coma. Or uncontrollable infections of the lungs, digestive tract, urinary system, etc. can occur, leading to death.

Some dangers occur suddenly, lasting from a few minutes to a few hours. Family members may not be mentally prepared at all, and doctors may find it difficult to take effective measures to prevent and treat them. For example, pulmonary embolism is a very hidden but dangerous complication that occurs frequently in cancer patients. It is caused by the blockage of the pulmonary artery by tumors or thrombi. There may be no signs beforehand, or some very atypical abnormalities. Once a large area of ​​pulmonary embolism occurs, the patient will die in a few minutes at the fastest, or only a few days at the slowest. According to statistics, pulmonary embolism is the second leading cause of death among all cancer patients. It is difficult to prevent, diagnose, and treat. Unless the embolized pulmonary vessels are small and the area is not large. Another common danger is massive bleeding. Cancer cells invade important blood vessels, causing blood vessels to rupture. The amount of bleeding is large. If the progression is fast, hemorrhagic shock or suffocation may occur within a few seconds to a few minutes. Even in the hospital, there is no chance of rescue. There are also some elderly, very weak, or mentally abnormal patients who are prone to suffocation when feeding or drinking water, or suffocation caused by phlegm stuck in the throat, and often die within a few minutes. Patients, family members, and medical staff should take more precautions.

Some patients suffer from other serious diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, organ failure, etc. These diseases are inherently dangerous and can suddenly worsen or flare up, leading to the patient's death in a very short time. Although cancer is not the direct cause of death, cancer and these diseases often promote each other, colluding with each other and accelerating the patient's death. There are also some other conditions such as rupture of pulmonary bullae to form pneumothorax, large amounts of pleural effusion affecting respiratory function, pericardial effusion leading to pericardial tamponade, cerebral edema leading to brain herniation, etc., which can also cause death in a short period of time (from a few minutes to a few days), and I will not go into details one by one.

In short, cancer patients face many, large and immediate risks. It is not only advanced patients who are at risk of death; many early-stage patients may also experience the risk. Not only is there a risk of cancer itself, but other concomitant diseases may also occur.

So, what physical examination items should we choose? First, we need to understand what the early symptoms of cancer are. Generally, the early symptoms of cancer are divided into two aspects: local manifestations and systemic symptoms.

Local manifestations of cancer:

First, there will be lumps, which are formed by the malignant proliferation of cancer cells. You can touch them on the surface or deep inside the body with your hands. Thyroid, parotid or breast cancer can be touched in the shallow part of the subcutaneous area. Tumor metastasis to lymph nodes will cause lymph node enlargement. Some superficial lymph nodes, such as cervical lymph nodes and axillary lymph nodes, are easy to touch. As for those in deeper parts of the body, such as gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, etc., you need to press hard to touch them.

Second, pain will occur. The expansive growth or rupture, infection, etc. of the tumor will irritate or compress the peripheral nerves or nerve trunks, which may cause local pain. The occurrence of pain often indicates that the cancer has entered the middle or late stages. It is mostly dull pain at the beginning and is more obvious at night.

Third, ulcers may occur. Tumors on the body surface or in the gastrointestinal tract may cause tissue necrosis due to insufficient blood supply or form ulcers due to secondary infection if they grow too quickly.

Fourth, there will be bleeding. Cancerous tissue invades blood vessels or small blood vessels in cancerous tissue rupture, causing bleeding.

Fifth, there is obstruction. If cancerous tissue grows rapidly and causes obstruction of hollow organs, breathing difficulties and atelectasis may occur when the obstruction is in the respiratory tract. If esophageal cancer obstructs the esophagus, it may cause swallowing difficulties and other phenomena.

Sixth, systemic symptoms. Early-stage tumors do not have obvious systemic symptoms. Some patients will experience weight loss, loss of appetite, cachexia, excessive sweating, such as night sweats, anemia, fatigue and other non-specific symptoms.

Therefore, we can do these physical examination items to check our physical health. 1. Low-dose CT scan of the lungs is very useful for early screening of lung cancer, and B-ultrasound is also very useful for early screening of breast cancer and thyroid cancer. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy are also very useful for screening of digestive tract tumors. B-ultrasound combined with AFP examination is a very useful examination method for early diagnosis of primary liver cancer.

2. CA125 combined with B-ultrasound for ovarian cancer screening. For women of childbearing age or postmenopausal women, if CA125 is progressively elevated, timely ovarian B-ultrasound is very useful for the detection of ovarian cancer. In addition, color Doppler imaging technology can clearly detect whether there are masses and lesions in most organs of the body.

3. Head CT or MRI are also useful means to detect brain space-occupying lesions.

4. Blood test: Blood test is an important means of physical examination to detect early cancer. Testing various tumor markers in the blood can detect and identify various malignant tumors if they are elevated: alpha-fetoprotein AFP can be used to check primary hepatocellular carcinoma and gonadal embryonal tumors; carcinoembryonic antigen CEA can be significantly elevated, which is common in colon cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, and bile duct cancer; it can also be elevated in liver cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

5. Gynecological examination Pap smear: The detection rate of early cervical cancer using the Pap staining method is about 60%-70%.

6. B-ultrasound.

7. Chest X-ray: X-rays pass through the human body and present images due to the density of organs and tissues. They can directly show lung tumors and also look for chest tumors through indirect changes such as emphysema, obstructive pneumonia, and pleural effusion.

8. Chest X-ray: X-rays pass through the human body and present images due to the density of organs and tissues. They can directly show lung tumors and also look for chest tumors through indirect changes such as emphysema, obstructive pneumonia, and pleural effusion.

9. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy: Directly observe the color of the stomach and intestinal mucosa, blood vessel texture, and gland opening shape with the naked eye to identify the presence of lesions and perform biopsy on suspected lesions to confirm the diagnosis.

With the continuous development of modern medicine, more and more cutting-edge technologies are being applied to the prevention and treatment of cancer. The best way to prevent cancer is to have a strong body and a full spirit.

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