Cytogenetics and Cancer Research

Cancer is the most common cause of death especially the lung cancer in most of the developed countries. Lung cancer has been frequently recognized as the malignancy that is caused by environment and the cigarette smoking. I have described the cigarette smoking risk factor that causing the lung cancer in Cytogenetics and Cancer Research blog these last few days. Therefore, I wish to write about another common risk factor which is environmental exposure so that we can take more appropriate prevention step of getting lung cancer.
 
Exposure to environmental carcinogens has been cited as the secondary risk factor of lung cancer independent of smoking. The exposure includes both outdoor and indoor air pollutants with contaminants of soil and drinking water. According to cancer research, the exposure of the carcinogens can occur because of both residential and occupational setting. There are many carcinogens exposing in our environment that will cause lung cancer. I just choose some major factors to be further reviewed.
 

Gas Radon Contributes to Lung Cancer

One of the carcinogens is gas radon. Gas radon and its radioactive progeny are the sources of exposure to inhaled radioactive substances. People who work at tin mines might be greatly exposed to radon. If the homes built on radon-containing soil, the residents might be exposed to the naturally occurring radioactive gas radon too. According to cancer research, residential radon is the primary cause of non-smoking related lung cancer.
 

Indoor Air Pollution Contributes to Lung Cancer

Sometimes, the indoor pollution which is caused by the cooking and heating will contribute to the developing of lung cancer too. For instance, during the time we are cooking the meat at high temperature, the potentially mutagenic cooking oil fumes and the carcinogenic metabolic products of heterocyclic amines will be released. Tai-an Chiang et al. showed that the fumes were not, or weakly mutagenic in the Salmonella assay when the distance between fume extractor and oil surface was 60 cm or less.
 

Outdoor Air Pollution Contributes to Lung Cancer

Outdoor air pollution is a contributor to the risk of lung cancer too. The fossil fuel combustion products are known carcinogens that will increase the risk of getting lung cancer. People who live in rural area have less lung cancer cases than the urban area residents regarding to the lower level of air pollution. Outdoor air pollution is composed of complex mixtures including the radionuclides, gas and particulate combustion products and fibers. Exposure to others respiratory carcinogens such as asbestos is related to the increased risk of lung cancer. How can we deal with the air pollution? Migrating to the rural area? The best way is to make our environment free of pollutant. We need to work together to help in increasing people’s awareness. Otherwise, we might pollute our rural area too at the end of the day.
 
In conclusion, by understanding the multiple components contributing to lung cancer which include the cigarette smoking and environmental exposure, we can identify the high-risk subgroups so that they can benefit from a proper screening or relevant interventions.
(Reference: David S. Albert, Lisa M. Hess. Fundamental of Cancer Prevention, Second edition)
 

Are you exposed to the environmental carcinogens? Take some actions to deal with it now.

Cytogenetics and cancer research blog is ready to help smoker to quit from smoking. Smoking cessation is a tough mission to be gone through. However, there are many benefits of stopping smoking for long term health benefits, including reduced cumulative risk for cancer, especially for lung cancer. So, we need the smoking cessation intervention to quit smoking effectively to reduce the risk of smoking-related disease.
 
Initially, we need to recognize the complexity of tobacco use which included the nicotine addiction with the interplay of social, psychological and biological factors. These factors should be paid attention during smoking cessation. Health care providers play the important role to assist the smokers to quit from smoking by providing both quitting aids and advices on health-related issues.

 
During the time I was finding the information about how to quit smoking effectively and doing the cancer research, I found Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence which was provided by the US Public Health Service to assist health care providers when delivering the cessation treatment. This should be a good guideline for the smokers to quit from smoking too. The guideline is produced based on a systematic research and analysis of scientific literature to assist health care providers in delivering smoking cessation treatment.
 

5 A’s for Smoking Cessation Intervention

1. Ask about tobacco use

For a health care provider, you may ask and record the tobacco use status for the patient at every visit.

For the smoker, you must record the frequency of tobacco use daily.
 

2. Advise to quit

For a health care provider, you may encourage the patient to quit in a clear, strong and determined manner.

For the smoker, you have to motivate yourself to quit from smoking strongly. What can you do? You may keep on reminding yourself about the disadvantages of smoking. And also, you may visit Cytogenetics and Cancer Research blog regularly to get some motivation here.:)
 

3. Assess readiness to quit

For a health care provider, you may find out whether the patient is ready in the next 30 days.

For the smoker, just prepare yourself to quit from smoking including the psychological and physical preparation.
 

4. Assist with quitting

For a health care provider, you may provide the counselling or pharmacotherapy to assist the patient quit smoking effectively.

For the smoker, try to ask for the health care provider’s help to enhance the effectiveness of smoking cessation. The support of family members is always the main inspiration and energy source for the smoker to successfully quitting smoking.
 

5. Arrange follow up

For a health care provider, you must make an appointment with the patient to follow up the smoking cessation status. Preferably, the health care provider may set up a schedule to follow up with the patient start from the first week of quitting.

For the smoker, you may jot down the date you start quitting. You may motivate yourself by counting the number of the day you live without the tobacco. You will start to feel impress with your determination to quit from smoking then. And this is the time I wish to say congratulation to you! You are awesome!
 
In conclusion, smoking cessation intervention has successfully helped many of smokers who wish to quit from smoking. By looking on the evidence of adverse impact of smoking which harms nearly every organ in our body, it is the time to encourage yourself and your beloved to stop smoking.
(Reference: David S. Albert, Lisa M. Hess. Fundamental of Cancer Prevention, Second edition)
 

Do you have any success story of smoking cessation? Come and share with us.