Too late to quit smoking?
11/11/03
Recently, I treated a woman who had been diagnosed with breast cancer almost 20 years ago. She was treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She was doing well.
Recently, I treated a woman who had been diagnosed with br
Unfortunately, she smoked one to two packs of cigarettes a day. When she was advised to quit smoking by her family physician or friends and family, she would say to them: "I already have cancer. How can cessation of smoking help me? Let me enjoy my life."
Recently, she went for a routine chest X-ray. It showed a mass. A CAT scan was done and, later on, a biopsy confirmed that the mass was caused by cancer. She will require surgery and maybe more chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
Women with early breast cancer who smoke are significantly more likely to die than those who quit or never smoked, according to a study presented Monday in Salt Lake City to the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
Dr. Minhhuyen Thi Nguyen and colleagues from Fox Chase Cancer Center compared rates of local disease recurrence and distant metastases as well as deaths from breast cancer and all causes in 1,039 nonsmokers and 861 smokers who were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy between March 1970 and December 2002. Of the 861 smokers, 75 continued to smoke during radiotherapy. They were followed for more than five years.
"Even after adjusting for all factors that may contribute to outcome, patients who continued to smoke during the treatment actually had a 2.5 times increased risk of death compared with those who quit or never smoked at all," the researcher said. Women who quit smoking before treatment actually had the same risk of dying as women who never smoked, according to the data.
In another study, small-cell lung cancer patients who went into complete remission with chemotherapy were followed. It was found that the patients who continued to smoke had almost double the risk of recurrence of the cancer and death from the lung cancer.
Both of these studies conclusively show that even after a patient develops cancer, they do better if they quit smoking than if they don't. My patient should have quit smoking at the time of the diagnosis of her breast cancer. But remember, it is never too late to quit smoking. She would still be better off if she quits smoking.
Dr. Sunil Gandhi is a hematologist and oncologist. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. Send questions or comments to 521 N. Lecanto Highway, Lecanto, FL 34461 call 746-0707.
Cigarettes
