Cancer of the lung

Retinoids, isothiocyanates and tea polyphenols have been identified as possible chemopreventive agents for cancers of the lung and oral cavity. While a number of trials have been conducted with retinoids or (3-carotene, the results were ambiguous and the causes are still being debated. 

Ms. Thompson has cancer of the lung and will begin a treatment regimen with methotrexate. Discuss important preadministration assessments you would perform before beginning therapy with methotrexate. 

There is no conclusive evidence that moderate, long-term use of cannabis causes lasting damage to physical or mental health. However, it is probable that frequent inhalation of cannabis smoke over a period of years will contribute towards bronchitis and other respiratory disorders and possible cancers of the lung and parts of the digestive system. Risks are greater if cannabis is smoked with tobacco. 

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, and cancers of the lung and bronchus rank first in mortality,... 

Asbestos is the name given to several different fibrous forms of silicates these go under names such as crocidolite, amosite, and chrysotile. These forms are, to varying degrees, also capable of eliciting fibrosis in lung tissue. In Chapter 6 it will be seen that some forms are capable of more serious damage - cancers of the lung and the mesothelium. 

When the same observers examined mortality from chronic respiratory diseases other than cancer of the lung, the death rates were found to be somewhat higher in Los Angeles than in the San Francisco Bay area and San Diego County, particularly among persons who had lived for 10 or more years in the same area. It is well known, however, that socioeconomic class is an important factor in mortality from chronic respira-... 

Diseases of people come in many flavors. There are infectious diseases (measles, mumps, influenza, AIDS,...), nutritional deficiency diseases (scurvy, beriberi, kwashiorkor,...), degenerative diseases (Alzheimer s disease, osteoporosis,...), cancer (of the lung, breast, prostate, liver,...), and single-gene inherited diseases or molecular diseases. In the last category, an important and instructive example is provided by sickle cell anemia. Let s consider this disease and begin to develop a sense of how we can understand it on the basis of what we now know about proteins. 

The best break we have had with cancer has come from epidemiology. Concerned with rising British mortality from lung cancer, the Medical Research Council, in 1947, commissioned Austin Bradford Hill (1897-1991) and Richard Doll (1912-) to analyse the possible causes. Their meticulous statistical survey (published in 1951) of patients from twenty London hospitals showed that smoking is a factor, and an important factor, in the production of cancer of the lung. ... 

Hucpcr, W. C. (1955a). Silicosis, asbestosis and cancer of the lung. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 25 1388. 

Asbestos has been shown to cause cancer of the lung and stomach according to studies of workers and others exposed to asbestos. There is no level of exposure to asbestos fibers that... 

Cornfield J. A method of estimating comparative rates from chnical data. Application to cancer of the lung, breast and cervix. / Natl Cancer Inst 1951 11 1269-75. 

Toxicology. Asbestos causes chronic fibrotic lung disease (asbestosis), pleural plaques and thickening, and cancers of the lungs, pleura, and peritoneum. 

None of three US industry-based case-control studies suggested an association between exposure to hydrogen chloride and cancers of the lung, brain, or kidney. This result was consistent with a rodent bioassay in... 

Doll R, Mathews JD, Morgan LG, et al Cancers of the lung and nasal sinuses in nickel workers A reassessment of the period of risk. Br find Med 34 102-105, 1977... 

The lARC has classified nitrogen mustard HN-2 as probably carcinogenic to humans based on evidence that it causes leukemia in humans and cancers of the lung, liver, uterus, and large intestine in animals. ... 

Toxicology. The fibrous talc in soapstone dust causes fibrotic pneumoconiosis an increased incidence of cancer of the lungs and pleura has been reported. 

A study of 260 workers with 15 or more years of exposure to commercial talc dust (containing not only talc, but also tremolite, antho-phyllite, carbonate dusts, and a small amount of free silica) revealed a 40-fold greater than expected proportional mortality from cancer of the lungs and pleura. In addition, a major cause of death was cor pulmonale, a result of the pneumoconiosis the effects were likely due to the asbestos-form contaminants. The role of nonfibrous talc in these disease states could not be assessed. 

In a cohort study of workers at a rubber chemicals plant, exposure to MBT did not seem to increase the risk of most cancers, including cancers of the lung and prostate. ... 

Chemically, arsenic is complex in that it can exist in a variety of forms including trivalent and pentavalent or as arsenic trioxide (computer chip manufacture) and arsenic acid. Arsenic is excreted in skin cells, sweat, hair, and fingernails, which can be seen as white transverse bands. Acute exposure to arsenic results in gastrointestinal pain, sensory loss, cardiovascular failure, and death. Chronic exposure or survival of acute exposure can cause loss of peripheral sensory function and loss of central nervous system function. Chronic arsenic exposure can also cause cancer of the lung and skin (see the chapter on arsenic). 

Watanabe Y, Shimizu J, Oda A, et al. Aggressive surgical intervention in N2 non-small cell cancer of the lung. Ann Thorac Surg 1991 51 253-261. 

Pearson FG, Delarue NC, lives R, et al. Significance of positive superior mediastinal nodes identified at mediastinoscopy in patients with resectable cancer of the lung. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1982 83 1-11. 

Payne DG. Is preoperative or postoperative radiation therapy indicated in non-small cell cancer of the lung Lung Cancer 1994 10(Suppl 1) S205-S212. 

Hansen HH. Management of small-cell cancer of the lung. Lancet 1992 339 846-849. 

Cigarette smoke contains aryl hydrocarbons such as benzo[a]pyrene that, once metabolized to reactive compounds, can form alkyl adducts of DNA bases leading to mutations and cancers of the lung and many other organs. 

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