How Smoking Affects Your Lungs
Smoking causes the preventable deaths of over 443,000 people in the Unites States each year. Second-hand smoke kills over 50,000 people each year.
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.
While smoking a cigarette, tar coats your lungs every time you inhale. Not only does this damage your lungs, but it damages your heart as well. Smoking is the cause of 160,000 heart related deaths per year in the United States. In addition to this, smoking causes a rise in blood pressure and increases clotting time, leading to strokes.
Effects on 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:
Lung cancer is not always caused by smoking. There are numerous cases where people have died from lung cancer and never smoked a single cigarette. Of the 20,000 new cases that appear, 10 to 15% of them will be non smokers. The additional 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.
Article source:Slim Index