TAMPA, Fla.  — April is Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month. According to the American Cancer Society, it makes up just 1% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States.

But the American Association for Cancer Research notes it's also one of the deadliest forms. Information from the National Cancer Institute shows the five-year survival rate from 2011 to 2017 was 19.9%. 

"Esophageal cancer, unfortunately, is very deadly because of the stage it's being diagnosed at," said Dr. Sharona Ross, a board-certified foregut and HPB surgeon with AdventHealth Tampa. "So, first diagnosis, usually, patients present with an inability to swallow solid food."

According to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, more than half of all new cases of esophageal cancer are adenocarcinoma. That's the type caused by reflux.

"It breaks my heart every time I see it because I know it's preventable," Ross said. 

Prevention is key, she said. Lifestyle changes, like losing weight or avoiding trigger foods, can help, she explained. Patients who have reflux symptoms or use over-the-counter reflux medications more than twice a week should talk with their primary care doctor about being evaluated for chronic acid reflux. Ross said a gastroenterologist can perform an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, or EGD, to carefully look at the esophagus and other parts of the digestive system to see if any changes are occurring because of chronic irritation. 

"It's very important to do surveillance once you feel like you constantly have to take medication. It hurts, it burns," Ross said. "Get attention. Get it. Go to your primary care physician. Demand, literally demand, to see a gastroenterologist. Get an EGD, get scoped, and then see what's going on."

Beth Sylvester, 78, said she suffered from reflux her whole adult life.

"I think that the constriction in my throat led me to see a doctor, but also, you realize that this acid reflux is doing damage to you physically," Sylvester said. 

Sylvester added she's been monitored during the past five or six years with endoscopies. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 esophageal cancer and underwent surgery last March. Today, she said she's cancer-free.

"Each day gets better, and so now, I feel fairly normal," Sylvester said.

Robotic surgery has given esophageal cancer patients a less invasive option that can offer better outcomes, Ross said. Sylvester said she was glad to have the option.

"It's wonderful to know that they have something now that can be done for esophageal cancer," Sylvester said. "It wasn't that way in the past, and the fact that they are able to remove the esophagus, reconstruct your stomach, and give you a life, really give you hope in the future, means everything."

For more information on esophageal cancer and resources, click here.