Early detection of cancer

Early detection of whether you have a tumor?

In order to realize early detection and timely diagnosis of tumors, people should not only rely on doctors and cancer screening in cancer prevention and control centers, but also grasp the early warning signals of various cancers in daily life and often conduct self-examination. Here are some simple self-checking methods:

(1) Touch the neck, armpit and groin (thigh fossa) at least once a month to check whether there are swollen lymph nodes (generally speaking, lymph nodes smaller than peanuts are normal), what is the texture of swollen lymph nodes, whether they are fixed and whether they are tender.

(2) When coughing for a long time, pay attention to whether there is bloodshot doping in expectoration, the time of coughing, the location of chest pain, blood volume and the color of bloodshot.

(3) When anorexia, emaciation and epigastric pain occur, if accompanied by nausea and vomiting, attention should be paid to whether the vomit contains dark brown contents, whether the stool is tar-like or bloody, and whether the shape of the stool has changed.

(4) A week after menstruation, a woman looks in the mirror to see whether the appearance of her breast has changed, whether the nipple is sunken, and puts her fingers on the opposite side together to touch whether there is a lump in her breast; How hard and active the lump is, and whether it adheres to the skin; Whether there is an "orange peel" change in the skin on the breast surface; Whether there are swollen lymph nodes in the armpit of the same side with breast mass.

(5) Women observe whether leucorrhea is mixed with bloody secretions every day or every week, and whether leucorrhea smells fishy.

(6) Whether the habit of defecation has changed every day, and pay special attention to whether there is pain, feeling of falling to the ground and the shape of feces has changed during defecation. Whether the observation range is shortened during urination, whether there is white secretion, whether there is hematuria, and whether there is discomfort in perineum.

(7) When the voice is hoarse for a long time, look in the mirror, open your mouth and take a deep breath to observe whether there are tumors such as tonsillar enlargement in the throat.

(8) In case of fever of unknown cause for a long time, you should take your temperature four times a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once in the evening, for three consecutive days, and make records. Check blood routine and erythrocyte sedimentation rate if necessary.

(9) Men should pay attention to whether the foreskin of the penis is too long, whether there are ulcer nodules at the urethral orifice, and whether there are cauliflower-like tumors that are easy to bleed in the coronal groove of the penis.

(10) limb pain occurs after strenuous activity. When the activity is limited, it is necessary to pay attention to whether there is a tumor at the joints of the limbs and whether the tumor can be touched under the skin. If there is a painless lump in the long bone, you should go to the hospital for orthopedic treatment.

(1 1) Pay attention to the changes of moles in all parts of the body at any time, and pay attention to whether they grow and burst rapidly in a short time. Pay attention to whether there are chronic ulcers on the body surface that have not healed for a long time.

2. Can cancer be found early?

For malignant tumors, early and correct diagnosis is the key to reasonable treatment and successful treatment. All kinds of malignant tumors in the human body mostly occur and grow on the body surface or in parts that are easy to be detected and found. For example: skin cancer with skin growth; Cancer of lip, tongue, buccal mucosa, tonsil, nasopharyngeal, laryngeal, parotid and thyroid; Breast cancer that occurs in the breast; Penile cancer and cervical cancer of urogenital system; Malignant lymphoma of superficial lymph nodes; And anal cancer, rectal cancer and so on. Only by learning the knowledge of self-examination can malignant tumors ―― gastric cancer, lung cancer and brain tumor easily appear in the body cavity at an early stage.

With the continuous updating of modern medical equipment, the examination and diagnosis of cancer become easier and easier. Therefore, for middle-aged and elderly people, regular physical examination is extremely important; Moreover, anti-cancer physical examination should be regarded as a main content of health care examination.

It is the best way to find malignant tumors early, especially in high-incidence areas.

As long as we pay attention to the early symptoms and signs of cancer, check them in time, or conduct regular general surveys, most cancers can be found early.

3. What are the early signs of common cancers?

Any disease will always show some signals on the eve of onset. If we know these signals, we can master the laws and characteristics of the disease, and it is possible to find and treat it early, thus improving the cure rate. What are the common symptoms of cancer

(1) The first signs of esophageal cancer are choking sensation, pain, sternal tightness, esophageal foreign body sensation or epigastric pain when swallowing food.

(2) Upper abdominal pain is commonly called heartburn. It's always good at ordinary times, and I gradually find that my stomach (equivalent to the upper abdomen) is uncomfortable or painful, which can't be alleviated by taking analgesic and antacid drugs, and it's not good to continue digestion. At this time, we should be alert to the occurrence of gastric cancer.

(3) Irritating cough, persistent cough or lung cancer with blood in sputum how long it grows on the bronchial wall. Due to the growth of cancer cells, the normal tissue structure is destroyed, which strongly stimulates the bronchus and causes cough. Antibiotics and cough medicine can't relieve it well, and it gets worse gradually, with occasional bloody sputum and chest pain. This cough is usually considered as an early sign of lung cancer.

(4) Breast lump Normal female breast, soft. If you feel a lump and you are over 40 years old, you should consider the possibility of breast cancer.

(5) Abnormal vaginal bleeding Normal women have menstruation once a month, and there is no vaginal bleeding at ordinary times. If you bleed after sexual intercourse, it may be a signal of cervical cancer. The amount of bleeding after sexual intercourse is generally very small. If we can pay attention to it, it is possible to find early cervical cancer.

(6) nosebleeds nosebleeds are mainly characterized by a small amount of bloodshot in the nose, especially in the morning, which is often an important signal of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In addition to bloody nose, nasopharyngeal carcinoma often has nasal congestion, which is caused by the oppression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. If cancer compresses the eustachian tube, tinnitus will appear. Therefore, nosebleeds, nasal congestion, tinnitus and headache, especially unilateral migraine, are all dangerous signals of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

(7) Abdominal pain, falling, bloody stool Anyone over the age of 30 has abdominal discomfort, dull pain, abdominal distension, a change in bowel habits, a feeling of falling and bloody stool, and then anemia, fatigue, and a lump in the abdomen. The possibility of colorectal cancer should be considered. Among them, localized and intermittent dull pain along the intestine is the first warning signal of colorectal cancer. The obvious feeling of blood in stool is often a signal of rectal cancer.

(8) Right subcostal pain is often called liver pain, which is common in hepatitis, cholecystitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. The incidence of liver cancer is hidden and develops rapidly. Some patients were diagnosed with liver cancer after several months of right rib pain. Therefore, the pain under the right rib should be regarded as a signal of liver cancer.

(9) Headache, vomiting headache, etc. It often occurs in the morning or evening, and it is often obvious in the forehead, occipital region and both sides. Vomiting has nothing to do with eating, and often appears with the aggravation of headache. Headache and vomiting are common clinical symptoms of brain tumors and should be regarded as dangerous signals of intracranial tumors. CT examination is helpful for diagnosis.

(10) Cancer with long-term fever of unknown cause, such as malignant lymphoma and leukemia, often has fever. The clinical manifestation of malignant lymphoma is painless progressive lymphadenopathy. At the same time of lymph node enlargement, patients may have symptoms such as fever, emaciation and anemia. Therefore, unexplained long-term fever should be suspected as a signal of malignant tumor in hematopoietic system.

There are all kinds of suspicious signals on it, so we can neither be afraid of anything nor take it lightly. It is necessary to go to the hospital in time and carry out necessary examinations, so as not to delay the illness and cause lifelong regret.

4. What are the commonly used examination methods for diagnosing cancer?

The main methods to diagnose cancer are: ① Detailed medical history, comprehensive physical examination, various routine examinations and specific examinations. Such as alpha-fetoprotein and carcinoembryonic antigen. ② Physical examination: About 75% of cancers occur in easily found parts of the body. Therefore, a comprehensive physical examination, including observation, touching, knocking and auscultation, is very important, and a considerable number of tumors can often be found and their nature can be preliminarily judged. ③ Imaging examination: including routine X-ray fluoroscopy, radiography, various contrast films and various tomography examinations; CT, ECT, nuclear magnetic resonance examination; B-ultrasound examination, nuclear medicine examination, etc. ④ Pathological examination: exfoliative cytology and biopsy. ⑤ Endoscopy: esophagoscopy, fiberoptic gastroscopy, fiberoptic colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, etc. ⑥ Radioimmunoassay: such as AFP determination, carcinoembryonic antigen detection, EB virus antibody detection, etc. ⑦ Medical laser diagnosis.

In addition, regional cancer screening is also a valuable way of early detection. It is very important to find early cancer patients through general survey and improve the survival rate of cancer patients.

5. Which malignant tumors are suitable for B-ultrasound diagnosis?

In recent years, B-ultrasound has been widely used in clinic, becoming an indispensable routine diagnostic method, and even the preferred image-assisted diagnostic method for some malignant tumors.

Because B-ultrasound is more convenient and economical than X-ray, radionuclide and CT, and does not depend on radiation, there is no need to worry about radiation exposure and damage during inspection. Therefore, it is widely used in tumor diagnosis. B-ultrasound can continuously display and observe the focus from multiple angles, which is helpful to understand the location of the tumor and its relationship with surrounding tissues and organs, and is of great help to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

At present, the malignant tumors commonly diagnosed by B-ultrasound are: liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, cholecystitis, gastric cancer, malignant lymphoma, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, renal cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, testicular tumor, thyroid cancer and so on. Tumors of 2 cm can usually be detected. You can also learn about other diseases in abdominal cavity, pelvic cavity and retroperitoneum through B-ultrasound examination, as well as check the hydrothorax and ascites.

6. Which tumors does endoscopy apply to?

(1) biopsy is needed because cytology can't confirm the diagnosis.

(2) Fiberoptic gastroscope is suitable for the examination of gastric benign and malignant tumors, and biopsy under gastroscope can make a definite diagnosis.

(3) Fiberoptic colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy are of great value in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant colorectal tumors.

(4) Bronchoscopy can't make a definite diagnosis by cytology, but X-ray signs are suspected to be cancer, which needs bronchoscopy to make a definite diagnosis.

(5) Cystoscopy is used for patients who are suspected of bladder tumor and need to take biopsy for pathological diagnosis to confirm the diagnosis.

The advantage of endoscope is that it can directly understand the shape, scope and nature of tumor, and more importantly, it can take biopsy for pathological diagnosis, which provides reliable basis for diagnosis, differential diagnosis or treatment.

7. Is it necessary to do CT examination for any type of tumor?

CT is the abbreviation of computed tomography, which is the product of X-ray scanning and computer. The computer stores the scanning signals and converts them into images, so as to judge the nature of diseases. In recent 10 years, CT has been widely used in tumor examination of brain, liver and pancreas. Its examination features are as follows: ① The image is clear and the diagnosis effect is good. ② It has high sensitivity resolution, which is 100 times higher than that of conventional X-ray photography. Lesions as small as 1cm can be found, which is of great value for the diagnosis of early tumors. ③ Cross-sectional imaging without overlapping images. It can be used to examine systemic lesions, but the head is the most commonly used, accounting for 70%-80% of all CT examinations. Not only can you check out the cause of cerebrovascular disease, whether it is cerebral hemorrhage or cerebral thrombosis. CT examination of cancerous lesions in the chest and abdomen can determine the scope of cancerous lesions and whether they invade surrounding organs. CT examination contributes the most to the examination of pelvic tumors, because X-ray examination of pelvis is very difficult.

Although CT has the above advantages, it also has some limitations. In addition, because of the high cost of CT equipment, if the diagnosis can be made by using ordinary radiology technology, there is no need for CT examination. Therefore, not all tumors must be examined by CT.

8. What are the advantages of 8.ECT in helping to diagnose tumors?

ECT is a new nuclear medicine examination technology developed on the basis of CT, and it is called emission computed tomography, which is abbreviated from the first letter of its English name.

Its basic principle is to introduce radionuclides or radiopharmaceuticals into the body as radioactive sources, and reconstruct images through information collection and computer processing, showing the dynamic changes of blood flow function of "target organs" and images of various sections.

The advantage of ECT examination is that the examinee is completely in physiological state, which can display the shape, position and size of organs more intuitively, dynamically observe the changes of blood flow and function of organs, and reconstruct multi-dimensional spatial images: cross-section, coronal plane, sagittal plane and inclined plane. So as to determine whether there is a tumor in the organ, the exact location, size and scope, blood supply, function and tissue morphology of the tumor. It has important practical value for clinical diagnosis, tumor course staging, treatment plan formulation, curative effect follow-up and prognosis evaluation.

All human bones and organs can be examined by ECT. Just choose different radiopharmaceuticals according to different "target organs" and introduce them into the body. According to different needs, ECT can be used for dynamic and static examination, whole body and local examination, multi-door cardiac function imaging examination and various cross-sectional imaging.

ECT's examination of the heart can be said to be its characteristic. Of course, it is extremely rare to have a tumor in the heart, but ECT examination can provide more very effective information about heart function.

9. What are the characteristics of nuclear magnetic resonance in cancer diagnosis?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or magnetic resonance is a new medical imaging diagnosis technology, which is the product of the comprehensive development of computer technology, microelectronics technology and low temperature superconductivity in 1970s. Since it was formally applied in clinic in 1980s, it has shown its unique advantages, and it can definitely diagnose deep brain tumors, brain stem tumors, spinal cord tumor, mediastinal tumors, heart tumors and so on. Although nuclear magnetic resonance has a unique function, it should be carefully decided by the doctors concerned according to the specific situation. At present, CT equipment is relatively popular, and the price is relatively lower than that of MRI. For cancers that can be diagnosed by general CT, MRI is not necessary.

10. What cancers can radionuclide examination help diagnose?

Some hospitals are called isotope examination; Some hospitals are called isotope scanning; Some hospitals are called nuclear medical examination. To be precise, isotope examination should be called "radionuclide examination". Isotopes refer to elements with the same ordinal number but different atomic weights in the periodic table. Radioisotope means that this element has effective radioactivity. Make radioactive elements into various tracers, let them enter the human body, participate in the metabolic process of the human body, and finally enter the organs that need to be examined. According to the different types of tracers and tumors, some tracers enter the normal tissues around the tumors but do not enter the tumor tissues, indicating that there are radioactive defects in the diseased areas. Some enter the tumor tissue ("tumor-loving" tracer), and the radioactivity of the tumor site increases. Then use detectors such as scintillation scanners to detect the radiation distribution on the body surface, and print out images or take photos. According to the distribution of radiation, the location and size of tumor can be estimated. Radioisotope diagnosis is non-invasive and simple. It is helpful for the diagnosis of tumors, especially thyroid, brain, lung and liver tumors.

1 1. Is it necessary to do immunological examination for the confirmed tumor?

The occurrence, development, curative effect and prognosis of malignant tumor are closely related to the immune state of the body, so the application of immunological examination is helpful to the diagnosis and prognosis of tumor. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out immunological examination on the confirmed tumor. At present, the commonly used methods of tumor immunodiagnosis in clinic are: (1)AFP determination, which has early diagnostic value for primary liver cancer and can be detected in blood months before symptoms appear, and has been widely used for early screening of liver cancer. After tumor resection or effective treatment, the concentration of serum alpha-fetoprotein tends to decrease and increase when it recurs, so it is often used to judge the radical effect and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. (2) Carcinoembryonic antigen Carcinoembryonic antigen is a related antigen found in digestive tract tumors. The continuous determination of carcinoembryonic antigen has certain value for the curative effect and prognosis of colon cancer patients. The serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels of malignant tumors and lung cancer originating from outside the intestine also increased significantly. (3) Determination of Ferritin and Isoferritin In the serum of tumor patients, the concentration of ferritin increased significantly. It is reported that 85% of patients with liver cancer have increased serum ferritin concentration, and its positive rate is higher than other tumors, so the determination of ferritin concentration is often used as the second marker of patients with liver cancer. (4) Detection of sulfur glycoprotein antigen of gastric cancer embryo This is to detect gastric cancer antigen in gastric juice of patients. If the gastric cancer embryo glucoprotein antigen in the gastric juice of the patient is positive, the possibility of gastric cancer is greater. (5) Determination of EB antibody in serum EB virus is a tumor-inducing virus, and patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma often have high anti-EB antibody in serum, so this method provides effective clues for early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and follow-up observation of patients.

12. What is the basis of tumor diagnosis?

Although great progress has been made in biochemical, immunological and imaging diagnosis of tumors, the nature of tumors still depends mainly on pathological diagnosis. Pathological examination is the most standard and reliable method to diagnose tumors. It is to make the secretion of diseased organs into smears, or directly take out diseased small tissues to make slices or prints, and observe their cell morphology and structure under a microscope to determine the nature of tumors.

Pathology is usually divided into histopathology and cytopathology. Pathological diagnosis can not only judge the benign and malignant tumor and prognosis, but also provide reliable basis for treatment. However, pathological diagnosis also has limitations. Because its biopsy specimens, macrosomia and biopsy are all sampling examinations, what is finally seen under the light microscope is only a tiny part of the lesion, and sometimes it does not represent the whole lesion. In addition, the reliability of pathological diagnosis is also related to the selection of pathological specimens. Sometimes there will be false negative results. If the clinical diagnosis is inconsistent with the pathological diagnosis, the pathological diagnosis should be reviewed in time. If the pathological diagnosis is accurate, we can consider whether the selection of pathological specimens is equivalent. If necessary, take the materials again and make a pathological diagnosis again. In order to avoid misdiagnosis and delay the treatment opportunity.

13. What are the sampling methods for pathological diagnosis?

(1) Exudation (sputum, nipple discharge), aspirate (hydrothorax and ascites), curettage (vaginal discharge) and urine were taken by exfoliative cytology, and smears were made for microscopic examination. It is often used for examination of cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, cardiac cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, breast cancer and cancerous hydrothorax and ascites.

(2) forceps biopsy A small piece of biopsy tissue is taken from the lesion for examination, which is called biopsy, or "biopsy" for short. Mainly through surgical direct forceps or endoscopic forceps. Commonly used for skin cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, oral cancer, esophageal cancer, cardiac cancer, gastric cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, penile cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer or lymphadenopathy.

(3) For patients with large tumors without ulcers and body surface parts, aspiration biopsy is often used instead of biopsy. This method is simple and easy, and it can also reduce the pain of patients, without complicated procedures such as surgical incision. Clinically, it is often used in the diagnosis of thyroid tumors and breast tumors.

(4) The pathological diagnosis of percutaneous biopsy needs to be guided by B-ultrasound, X-ray TV and CT, and the puncture needle should be inserted into the lesion to take biopsy for pathological diagnosis, which can be used for the diagnosis of liver cancer, gallbladder cancer and pancreatic head cancer in clinic. However, due to the possibility of needle implantation and cancer bleeding, it is not routinely used in clinic.