News: Heartburn Can Cause Cancer
Recent report by the doctors said that heartburn acid reflux is the fastest growing malignancy in America. In order to avoid this disease, the best way is to make changes in your lifestyle and diet.
An UVa thoracic surgeon, Dr. Christine Lau explained:
“The thing that causes esophageal cancer isn’t the acid reflux or the heartburn. It is the damage that it causes to the lining of the esophagus.”
What triggers it?
Eating especially spicy foods, drinking too much coffee, even just being pregnant or obese can eat away at the lining of the esophagus. That leaves cells more vulnerable to a pre-cancerous condition called Barrett’s esophagus; doctors say once you develop Barrett’s, there’s no cure to it.
It’s a problem that’s on the rise.
Barrett’s cases are going up to about 3 million patients suffer from eroded esophagi in America. This year, another 16,470 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer which has a 17 percent five-year survival rate.
If you suffer from heartburn and over 40, it’s best to consult your doctor and considered an endoscopy done for it where you look for the Barrett’s.
Dr Lau says that often those who do not consult their doctor end up having an esophagectomy. A procedure that takes the esophagus out and use the stomach to replace it. At the same time, it pulls the stomach up into the chest and then, it reconnects to the proximal esophagus.
Just by popping heartburn pills may temporarily relief the pain. However, the damage is done. It’s best to consult your doctor as soon as possible
For more information on the prevalence of esophageal cancer and treatments of the disease, visit http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/esophageal/.
Alternatively, you can read more on this book – Cure Your Heartburn.
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