Diagnosing Esophageal Cancer
How is esophageal cancer diagnosed? In this video, Dr. Leon Yoder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America explains how gastroenterologists are able to diagnose this type of cancer.
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Dr. Leon Yoder: The diagnosis of esophageal cancer is made by an EGD, which is a scope that you put into your esophagus. And by looking at the esophagus, you can see where the obstruction is, or where there's a tumor. You take biopsies of that area. The biopsies will tell us that it is a cancer. It will also tell us what kind of cancer it is. Then the treatment has to start from that point on. How do we begin treatment? Obviously, if you can't swallow, you're going to have to have some assistance from a gastroenterologist. That treatment may be anywhere from placing a stent to relieve that obstructed area to placing a feeding tube to at least give you nutrition that you're going to be needing while you're undergoing treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation, or both.