Esophageal Cancer
Oncological SurgeryThe esophagus, as it is commonly known, is a tube-shaped structure consisting of muscle tissue that connects the oral cavity to the stomach.
The inner surface of the esophagus, which comes into contact with food, is covered with flat epithelial (squamous) cells; The uncontrolled proliferation of these cells, turning cancerous, is called squamous cell carcinoma. These types of cancers usually occur in the middle and upper segments of the esophagus.
Since the cell structure covering the surface of the lower segments of the esophagus changes, tumors called adenocarcinoma occur more frequently in this region.
One of the most common symptoms of esophageal cancer is a feeling of choking during eating and difficulty swallowing. First of all, the difficulty experienced in consuming only solid foods becomes such that even liquids cannot be drunk easily as the disease progresses. Weight loss, bleeding, black stools, and hoarseness are among the symptoms of this disease.
The first method usually used for diagnosis is endoscopy. After the diagnosis is made, and the stage of the disease is determined by other imaging methods, surgical treatments are applied using open, laparoscopic or robotic methods to remove the cancerous tissue.