The following symptoms and complaints may indicate esophageal cancer (esophageal cancer):
- Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing; stenotic/”due to tightness”)* .
- Weight loss*
- Odynophagia (pain in the mouth, throat, or esophagus when swallowing liquids or solid foods)
- Gastrointestinal bleeding [rare.]
- Retrosternal thoracic pain (chest pain) – pain behind the sternum.
- Dysphonia (hoarseness) due to recurrent paresis (vocal cord paralysis).
- Anemia (anemia)*
* Symptoms usually appear quite late in esophageal cancer; for the most part, they are uncharacteristic.
Notice. Esophageal cancer may be associated with Plummer-Vinson syndrome (synonyms: sideropenic dysphagia, Paterson-Brown-Kelly syndrome). This presents with a symptom complex of trophic (“nutritional”) disturbances in the setting of prolonged iron-deficiency anemia (anemia due to iron deficiency):
- Burning of the tongue (glossodynia, burning-mouth syndrome, BMS; glossitis).
- Mouth rhagades (cheilitis).
- Nail changes with growth disorders (hollow nails, koilonychia).
- Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) due to major mucosal defects with pain; atrophy of the esophageal mucosa with esophageal mesh.
- Splenomegaly (spleen enlargement).
- General symptoms such as fatigue, weakness and tiredness.
Plummer-Vinson syndrome is itself an endogenous risk factor for the development of squamous cell carcinoma of the pharynx (throat) and esophagus. Patients are usually middle-aged women (4th to 7th decade of life).