A Taipei doctor warned against excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco after treating a 35-year-old man for esophageal cancer, a disease that disproportionately affects men.
Wei Yi-shen (魏亦伸), a gastroenterologist at Taipei City Hospital’s Renai branch, said the patient, who smoked one-and-a-half packs of cigarettes per day and consumed a bottle of whiskey per week, sought medical assistance when he experienced trouble swallowing.
Initially, the man managed by chewing solid food into small pieces, but later resorted to only consuming liquid food, Wei said.
An examination found a tumor in the man’s esophagus, which testing showed to be malignant, he said.
In 2018, esophageal cancer was the ninth-leading cause of death from cancer in Taiwan, and for Taiwanese men it is consistently ranked as the fifth-leading cause of death, he said.
The ratio of men to women who develop the condition in Taiwan is 13:1, and men aged 60 and older are particularly at high risk for developing the condition, he added.
People who develop this cancer might feel a sensation of a foreign object in their throat, have difficulty swallowing, experience weight loss and develop anemia, Wei said.
However, because the disease does not exhibit symptoms in its early stages, people might not be aware of it until a tumor has already developed, he said.
Common factors that contribute to developing esophageal cancer include smoking, and consumption of alcohol, betelnut and foods high in nitrites, he said.
People with a family history of the condition, or who are overweight or have acid reflux, are also at risk of esophageal cancer, he said.
The cancer is primarily categorized as either squamous cell epithelioma or glandular epitheliomia, with the squamous cell variant accounting for about 90 percent of all cases, he said, adding that the variants are also typically found in different regions.
Squamous cell epithelioma is commonly found in China, Turkey, Iran and throughout Central Asia, while glandular epitheliomia is more commonly found in the US and western Europe, he said.
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