{"id":10374,"date":"2011-05-31T17:51:10","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T17:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/151.106.38.4\/2011\/05\/31\/world-no-tobacco-day-the-tobacco-and-cancer-connection\/"},"modified":"2011-05-31T17:51:10","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T17:51:10","slug":"world-no-tobacco-day-the-tobacco-and-cancer-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/2011\/05\/31\/world-no-tobacco-day-the-tobacco-and-cancer-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"World No Tobacco Day: The tobacco and cancer connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Smokeless tobacco and smoking are equally harmful. The primary sites affected by each are different. Dr Devendra Chaukar, surgeon, Tata Memorial Hospital says, \u201cChewing tobacco and gutkha primarily cause oral cancers while smoking causes laryngeal and lung cancer. Additional substances used in smokeless tobacco also cause mucosal damage.\u201d Not only are tobacco chewers and smokers at a risk of cancer, but second hand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmokers. Though low, there is a definite risk. Workplace exposure to tobacco smoke increases risk of lung cancer by 12%-19% in non-smokers. In the spouse of smokers, the risk is about 20% in females and 30% in males.
\nCancers caused by tobacco<\/span> <\/span>
\n \u2022 Head and neck cancer, which include oral, oropharyngeal, nasopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers
\n\u2022 Lung cancer
\n\u2022 Oesophagus cancer
\n\u2022 Stomach cancer
\n\u2022 Pancreatic cancer
\n\u2022 Renal cell carcinoma
\n\u2022 Cervix and vulva cancer
\n\u2022 Urinary bladder cancer
\n\u2022 Hepatocellular carcinoma
\n\u2022 Leukemia and lymphoma
\nCarcinogens in tobacco
\n<\/span>Dr Chaukar says, \u201cDNA damage forming various chemical compounds leading to inactivation of tumour suppressor gene p53 and activation of proto oncogene KRAS. Nicotine is the addicting substance in tobacco smoke. However, it is not carcinogenic by itself. Various additive substances used in tobacco products enhance the absorption of nicotine by different mechanisms, like menthol numbs the throat and leads to increased consumption; others reduce alkalinity of the product and increase unprotonated nicotine that is easily absorbed.\u201d Other organic compounds present– metals like arsenic, beryllium, nickel, chromium, lead, cadmium and radioactive compounds like cobalt and polonium.
\nWarning signs of cancer in smokers
\n<\/span>\u2022 Lung cancer can present as cough, hemoptysis (blood streaked sputum), breathlessness, easy fatigability or neck nodes.
\n\u2022 Oral cancers can present as premalignant lesion like leukoplakia (white patch), erythroplakia (red patch), and progressive difficulty to open the mouth called oral sub mucous fibrosis or as frank malignant ulcer, usually painless and non-healing.
\n\u2022 Laryngeal cancer present as change in voice-hoarseness.
\n\u2022 All head and neck cancer can present as palpable neck nodes without awareness of primary lesion.
\n \u2022 Many other cancers, particularly intraabdominal are detected incidentally. Usually they present late.
\nSurvival rates
\n<\/span> Chances of survival if cancer is detected early are good provided tobacco and other habits are quit. Dr Chaukar elaborates, \u201cThe survival is good owing to availability of wide variety of options of curative treatment like surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy with low morbidity.\u201d
\nComplications<\/span>
\nWhen cancer is present late, treatment may not be necessarily with curative intent, but with palliative intent. Dr Chukar says, \u201cFew cancers have poor prognosis when they present late that active treatment is not feasible. Liver and pancreatic cancers are classic examples, which are usually diagnosed very late and even with any possible treatment there are no survivor at 5 years. Any form of treatment takes its toll and are associated with functional impairment of some extent or cosmetic disfigurement, severe life threatening side effects of chemotherapy and intolerance to radiotherapy.\u201d <\/p>\n

MAY 31:
\n<\/span>World No Tobacco Day is observed around the world every year. It is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe. World Tobacco Day is one of many other world health awareness days throughout the year organized by the WHO, including World Mental Health Day, World AIDS Day, and World Blood Donor Day, among others.<\/p>\n

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Smokeless tobacco and smoking are equally harmful. The primary sites affected by each are different. Dr Devendra Chaukar, surgeon, Tata Memorial Hospital says, \u201cChewing tobacco and gutkha primarily cause oral cancers while smoking causes laryngeal and lung cancer. Additional substances used in smokeless tobacco also cause mucosal damage.\u201d Not only are tobacco chewers and smokers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}