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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Could I have oesophageal cancer?

    Related Topics
    Cancer Oesophageal Cancer
    Lately I have felt pain when swallowing my food enough though I chew it very well. The only other (few) times that I have felt this was when I had a sore throat. I'm very concerned as this is all very new to me. I'm a 64 year old male and have smoked all my life. Could I have oesophageal cancer?
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    • Dr Salena Ward
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    Dr Salena Ward

    Bariatric (Obesity) Surgeon, General Surgeon, Upper GI Surgeon (Abdominal)

    I am a specialist Upper Gastrointestinal (gut) Surgeon, who performs surgery for weight loss, tumours of stomach and oesophagus, reflux, hiatus hernia and gallstones. I … View Profile

    The symptom of pain on swallowing is not a common symptom of oesophageal cancer but can still occur. You do have a risk factor for many types of cancer, which is smoking all your life.  My additional question to you would be whether you not ony feel pain on swallowing but whether you feel like the food gets stuck when swallowing as well, as this is a more common symptom of oesophageal cancer.

    The basic answer to your question is yes, you could have oesophageal cancer.  I could make an educated guess on your symptoms the likelihood you have oesophageal cancer and on the limited symptoms you have described the likelihood may be lower, but the only way to know yes or no for sure is to have an upper gut endoscopy (procedure of a camera into the oesophagus) performed under sedation (partial anaesthetic) to have a look inside and to take any biopsies (samples of tissue for examination) if anything abnormal is seen.

    I recommend you speak to your GP and discuss whether you should have an endoscopy. I also suggest you not delay seeing your GP because if you do have oesophageal cancer it is best to diagnose it and treat it quickly before it gets bigger and more difficult to treat.

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