Each year more than 443,000 deaths occur due to smoking while 50,000 deaths are contributed to second hand smoke. The sad thing is, each of these deaths were preventable.

Cigarettes expose you to over 49 different carcinogens including formaldehide and ammonia. It also depletes an enzyme in your lungs called Elastin which allows your lungs to be more flexible. Without elastin, you are much more susceptible to emphysema.

Tar is inhaled from a cigarette which coats lungs. This tar not only damages your lungs, but your heart as well. For this reason, smoking causes 160,000 deaths in the United States every year. In addition to these negative effects, smoking also rises blood pressure and increases clotting time which then leads to stroke.

Smoking and the lungs:

The lungs contain tiny air sacs called alveoli. The alveoli are responsible for the exchange of oxygen and gases through a thin layer of epithelial cells. The surface of alveoli are covered with a thin layer of pulmonary surfactant that keeps the alveoli from collapsing on exhalation. Smoking causes damage to the alveoli, preventing their ability to receive oxygen from the blood. Smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women.

Lung Cancer:

You don’t necessarily have to smoke to get lung cancer. There are reported cases of people who have died from lung cancer who have never smoked in their lives. Of 20,000 new cases, ten to fifteen percent of these new cases are people who never smoked. Other causes of lung cancer include:

Second-hand smoke Arsenic Asbestos Chromium Radon gas - the number one cause of lung cancer in those who don’t smoke. Excessive exposure to radiation

How lung cancer develops:

Lung cancer presents due to the exposure to carcinogens in the air, often in the places where we live and work, resulting in lesions or tumor growth. Tumors are an uncontrolled overgrowth of cells. These mutated cells form growths that can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). They begin to grow and cause obstructions, later pressing on other nearby organs causing extreme pain. Most lung cancers aren’t found until they are in their later stages.

Treatment for lung cancer?

Treatment is totally dependent upon the type and extent of the malignancy, as well as the patient’s health. Choice of treatments includes surgical intervention, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these choices. Clinical trials of new and innovative procedures are another avenue that can be taken. Your doctor will have information on clinical trials that may be available to take part in.

A licensed registered nurse and passionate writer, Barb Hicks loves to share her knowledge about Stop Smoking Aids and Quit Smoking Injection Shot with others on Clivir.com.

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