Smoking for cancer patients can make the treatment process difficult, less effective, and more likely to relapse.
Cigarettes contain many toxic substances, increasing the risk of many diseases such as heart disease, liver disease, and cancer. In addition to treatment according to the regimen and lifestyle adjustments, patients who smoke should quit this habit and stay away from passive cigarette smoke. Below is the effect of tobacco on cancer patients.
The treatment process is difficult
If a person with cancer is receiving chemotherapy or other treatments, cigarette smoke can cause unpleasant side effects such as fatigue, nausea, hair loss, skin problems and pain. Side effects tend to be severe and last many months after treatment.
Smoking can reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Because cigarette smoke has a vasoconstricting effect, narrowing blood vessels reduces the amount of drug reaching cancer cells. Cigarette smoke has the ability to increase the risk of narrowing blood vessels, reducing the amount of oxygen reaching tissues. When oxygen levels are low, the effects of radiotherapy are reduced.
Cancer patients who quit smoking help reduce the risk of other chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Poor treatment effectiveness
Cigarette smoke affects the circulatory system, heart health, immune system and the body’s ability to heal wounds. For patients undergoing cancer treatment, especially patients undergoing surgery, smoking slows the recovery process after surgery and is highly likely to cause inflammation and other complications that slow wound healing. There is evidence that smoking changes the way the body processes chemotherapy drugs, making them less effective.
High risk of cancer recurrence
Tobacco is the leading cause of many types of cancer. The more a person smokes, the more likely they are to get cancer over time.
Quitting smoking after being diagnosed with cancer helps prevent disease recurrence, especially with lung cancer and some other types of cancer such as cancer of the larynx, throat, mouth, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas. … Cancer patients who stop smoking also have a reduced risk of serious complications from treatment compared to people who continue to smoke. Thanks to increased healing effectiveness, survival time is prolonged and mortality rate is reduced.