Addressing public concern over how to detect and treat esophageal cancer, doctors urged people to include a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to their annual checkup routines to enable earlier discovery of tumors.
Many people of renown, including Yulon Group chief executive officer Kenneth Yen (嚴凱泰), have died of the cancer, drawing attention to the disease.
Tung’s Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital recently performed a health checkup for a 52-year-old man surnamed Yang (楊), Department of Nuclear Medicine doctor Tseng Neng-chuan (曾能泉) said.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-che, Taipei Times
Doctors persuaded Yang to include a PET scan in his checkup, which led them to discover that Yang had first-stage esophageal cancer.
Esophageal cancer is usually pathologically derived from adenocarcinoma or squamous-cell carcinoma, and is more common in people who often smoke, drink, chew betel nut, drink very hot soup or tea, consume too few fruits and vegetables, or are orally unhygienic, Tseng said.
Common symptoms include difficulty swallowing, a raspy throat, feeling as if something is inside the throat and gastroesophageal reflux, Tseng said, adding that such symptoms are usually byproducts of a tumor entering the third stage.
Yang, a salesperson, was a chronic smoker and drinker, Tseng said.
Treating esophageal cancer requires surgical removal of the tumor, but if the cancer cells have spread to the lymph node, presurgical radiation therapy and chemotherapy are required, Tseng said.
A PET scan is noninvasive and allows for quick diagnosis, as it has high-quality anatomical reconstructive imaging, he said.
The method allows pinpoint accuracy in tracing disease origins and can detect tumors larger than 4mm, Tseng said.
PET scans also allow doctors to better assess the effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Tseng added.
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