Man in Hai Duong accidentally discovered esophageal cancer despite no symptoms

On the afternoon of October 30, at the scientific conference "Advances in minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of esophageal cancer" organized by K Hospital, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Binh, Deputy Director of K Hospital, shared about a case of esophageal cancer that received endoscopic surgery using a robot.

The patient is Mr. VVN, 42 years old, from Hai Duong, who accidentally discovered he had cancer even though he had no obvious symptoms. During a routine health check-up, when performing an esophagogastric endoscopy, the doctor said he had an early lesion measuring 2cm in size in the upper-middle third of the esophagus.

The pathological results of squamous cell carcinoma were confirmed by subsequent biopsy. The doctor diagnosed preoperatively esophageal cancer of the upper-middle third, the patient was consulted and indicated for surgery.

Mr. N's surgery was performed by Prof. Xavier Benoit D'Journo, President of the Association of Thoracic - Cardiovascular Surgery and Esophageal Cancer, together with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Van Binh and colleagues. The three-zone lymph node dissection surgery in the esophagus was successful and Mr. N's health is currently stable.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Binh, surgery to treat esophageal cancer is one of the major and complicated surgeries, requiring precision and meticulous surgical skills from the surgeon. He also shared that the signs of esophageal cancer are often very vague in the early stages. Symptoms may include a feeling of choking behind the sternum when eating solid foods, regurgitation of food at night, increased salivation for no apparent reason. In addition, the patient may also have hoarseness, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, dark, dry skin and prominent wrinkles on the face and hands.

Because esophageal cancer is often difficult to detect in the early stages, patients are only diagnosed when the condition has progressed, causing dangerous complications such as: esophageal stricture, weight loss, ulcers causing gastrointestinal bleeding, invasion of the trachea causing coughing when swallowing, or even causing swelling of the chest and head and face. Robotic endoscopic surgery, thanks to its minimally invasive nature and meticulous dissection capabilities, has helped improve treatment effectiveness and minimize complications for patients.