Hello and welcome to my essay on diseases caused by smoking.  In this I will write around a page about lung cancer, Throat cancer, esophagus cancer, pancreas cancer, kidney cancer, cervix cancer, asthma and emphysema.

Cigarettes have now been proven to causes physical injury.  In a study done by the us army on its soldiers the ones that smoked broke more bones, sprained more ankles, and got more blisters while hiking then the ones that didn't smoke.  Studies also show that one in eight hip replacements are done on smokers.

Every 13 seconds someone in the world dies of a smoking related illness.  5,600 B.C  residents die a year from cigarette related illnesses and an estimated 4 million people around the world will die this year.

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most well known tobacco related illnesses.  Lung cancer accounts for almost one third of all deaths of cancer which means this year 140,000 Americans will die of lung cancer this year.  Men who smoke increase  their chances of getting lung cancer by 23 times and women by 13 times.  Over two million American smokers have died from lung cancer since 1964.

Your risk of getting lung cancer decreases about 30 to 50% after not smoking for ten years, this  rate continues to decrease the longer you stay smoke free.  87% of all cases of lung cancer are smoking related.

The sooner you find lung cancer, the better chance you have to survive.  If its found in the localized stage (only in the lungs)  you have a 50% chance of living for 5 years.  But only 15% of cancer cases are found in this stage,  80% are found in the advanced stages.  If it is discovered in the regional stage you have a 20% five year survival rate and at the distant stage you have a 2.2% five year survival rate.  The average age for a lung cancer patient is 60.

Symptoms of lung cancer can take years show, that is why its not usually found early.  Symptoms are, smokers cough, persistent chest, shoulder or back pain for no reason, increased sputum (spit), wheezing. Non smokers cough that last more then 2 weeks, change in colour of sputum, blood in sputum, repeated episodes of pneumonia or bronchitis, fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, bone pain, aching joints, memory loss, neck and facial swelling and unexpected weight loss.

Throat Cancer

Symptoms of throat cancer are hoarseness that last for more then 1-2 weeks, sore throat, neck pain, difficulty swallowing, swelling in the neck, weight loss, cough, coughing up blood, and an abnormal high pitched breathing sound.

To see if you have throat cancer a doctor will examine the neck and throat. Check your sputum for blood, do a biopsy, and send a viewing tube called a laryngoscope to view your larynx, lungs and esophagus.  Treatment for throat cancer depends on the stage of the disease, the digree of malignancy, the type of tumor and the age and general health of the patient.  Treatment is usually surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.  It is curable if discovered soon enough.

Things that cause throat cancer are heavy smoking and drinking, voice strain,  exposure to wood or metal dusts and the repeated inhaling of certain chemicals.

The most common type of throat cancer is known as squamus cell carcinoma or SCCA.  It is when a tumor grows in the lining of the larynx called the squamous cells.

Esophagus Cancer

The esophagus is a tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach.  Esophagus cancer is most common in people aged 50 to 70.  Symptoms of esophagus cancer are often mistaken for other ailments that older people acquire like heartburn, indigestion, decreased appetite, difficulty swallowing, feeling as though something stuck in your throat, burning while swallowing, persistent pain behind the breast bone, rapid weight loss and regurgitation of bloody mucus.

The cause of esophagus cancer is  unknown but high risk factors are smoking, heavy drinking, previous head and neck tumors, celiac disease, hiatal hernia, strictures, chronic gastric reflex and malnutrition.

To see if you have esophagus cancer a doctor will do a biopsy, (removal of a small amount of tissue which is sent to a laboratory for testing)  x-rays of the upper intestinal tract, CT scans or an esophagoscopy.  Treatment consist of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy or any combination of the above.

Esophagus cancer isn't' curable but doctors give medicines to help improve the quality of life for their patients.  Those medications are anaigesics or narcotics to relieve pain, tranquilizers to reduce anxiety, anticancer drugs (sometimes) and anticholinergics or calcium-channel blockers for esophagus spasms.

Pancreas Cancer

Pancreas cancer is when cancer cells are found in the pancreas.  The pancreas is about 6 inches long and looks something like a pear.  It is found behind the stomach, inside a loop formed by part of the small intestine.  The pancreas has two jobs in the body, it helps to break down or digest food by producing certain juices, it also supplies the body with hormones (like insulin) to regulate the way the body y stores and uses food.  About 95% of pancreas cancer cases are in the exocrine pancreas (the part that releases digestive juices.)

pancreas cancer is curable only  if found before it spreads.  If it is found to late medications are given to improve the quality of life for the patient by illiminating pain and complications of this disease.  Pancreas cancer is hard to diagnose because it is hidden by allot of other organs.

Symptoms of  pancreas cancer are nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss without trying, pain in the upper or middle abdomen or yellowing of the skin.

To see if you have pancreas cancer a doctor may perform an ultrasound, a CT scan, certain x-rays, an MIR, or a test called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or ERCP, with this test a doctor will send a tube down you throat into your stomach into your small intestine were he will either inject a dye into the pancreas to make it more visible in x-rays or take a small amount of tissue to send to a lab for testing

Kidney Cancer

There are three types of kidney cancer, they most common is renal cell cancer, also known as renal cell carcinoma or hypernephroma.   The other two are wilm's tumor (a childhood cancer) and transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis (really rare, resembles bladder cancer).

Kidney cancer is really sensitive to immunotherapy.  It also has the highest rate of spontaneous remission then any other cancer.  Doctors are saying that that is because sometimes the immune system can fight off this cancer with no treatment at all.  That doesn't mean if you just leave it it'll go away, because it can spread to other parts of your body that aren't curable.  Kidney cancer is very risitent to modern cancer treatment such as cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Surgery is the most common treatment but if cancer is found in the lymph notes there is a high chance of recurrence.  Three treatments that are looking promising right now are interlelkin-2 (toxic, but can be given in low doses to kill cancer cells),  vaccine treatment (non-toxic),  and autolymphocyte therapy (minimally toxic).

Cervix Cancer

The cervix is the lower part of the womb.  To detect cervical cancer the doctor will do a smear test.  With this test doctors can find pre-cancerous cells and get ride of them before they turn into cancer.  But if left to long it must find the cancer cells.  Cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia or CIN is the name given to the pre-cancerous cells found in the cervix.  Most people think that the ways you get cervical cancer is by having intercourse to young or having to many sexual partners, although these are factors in the cause of cervical cancer they are not proven to be the actual cause.

The most common symptom of cervical cancer is abnormal bleeding, an odd smelling discharge and a discomfort during intercourse.

Asthma

The severity of your asthma can change with season, climate, temperature, and infection.  There are usually symptom free periods between attacks.  Wheezing is a very common symptom of asthma, it is often described as a high-pitched musical sound.  Breathlessness, the most trouble some symptom, it is described as there being a tightness in the chest and the inability to catch your breath.  A cough is sometimes the only symptom of asthma.

To see if you have asthma a doctor will do a physical exam, chest x-rays, and breathing test, but all those will most likely be normal if you aren't having an attack so you may be asked to inhale a substance, usually methacholine or cold dry air to confirm if you have asthma.

Treatment for asthma is to keep asthma sufferers away from substances like dust, mold, animal dander, pollen, cold dry air, air pollution, cigarette smoke and respitory infections as much as possible because those are the things that trigger asthma attacks.  People with sever asthma have to keep their homes very clean and avoid owning cats and dogs.  Some people even have to take out all the carpets in their house and replace them with linoleum or tile, and take out any drapes and replace them with plastic blinds.  If they do own animals especially cats they must be bathed frequently.  Frequent hand washing helps protect against respitory infections.

Medication given to asthma sufferers is bronchodilators, albuterol, pirbuterol, isoetherine, metaproteranol, terbutaline and salmerol.  The most common form of taking meds is to be inhaled through a spry canister.  There are also pills, there are short and long lasting forms of both types of medication.

Emphysema

Emphysema is a disease that slowly eats away at the grape-like air sacs of the lung that exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide.  Chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma are both things that commonly lead to emphysema.

Symptoms of emphysema are nasal flaring, bulging eyes, vision abnormalities, dizziness, temporarily absent breathing, difficulty breathing, anxiety, stress and tension, ankle, feet and leg swelling, unintentional wieght loss, constant headaches, impotence, fatigue, inability to concentrate, excessive tired ness, awaking during the night, insomnia, waking after sleep not feeling rested, poor temper control, memory loss and clubbing of the fingers and toes.

Treatment for emphysema consist of medications like bronchodilators, diuretics and corticosteroids.  Extra antibiotics are prescribed when respitory infections occur.  Influenza (flu) shots and pneumovax are recommended for people with emphysema so they don't get to many illnesses that may weaken their immune systems.  Also parts of your lung that are affected can be removed to prevent spreading.  This however is only an experimental therapy and it has not yet been proven successful.  It is theorized that if you take out the infected part then the uninfected part will grow to cover that area.

The end

Well that was my essy, I hope you enjoyed it, and learned from it.