Word: smokes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...deaths from lung cancer each year, said Dr. Hammond, has obscured the more deadly fact that four times as many "excess'' fatalities among cigarette addicts are due to a long and tangled chain of events. Between puffs on his pipe, he reported that deeply inhaled cigarette smoke sends a threat of pre mature death spreading through the lungs, arteries and the heart itself...
...examined by pathologists. The hundreds of slides were identified only with coded numbers, and pathologists did not know their origin. Later statisticians were able to match the pathological findings with the histories of the dead patients. The results of the study added up to an elaborate description of progressive smoke damage...
Subjected to Stress. Deeply inhaled smoke, the researchers found, irritates the cells that line the tiniest chambers of the lung (alveoli). The walls of the alveoli thicken, lose their elasticity and much of their ability to do their vital job of exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen. Subjected to sudden stress-such as a cough or sneeze-the alveolar walls rupture; part of the lung becomes useless...
Even while it is attacking the alveoli, dense smoke also damages the small arteries that carry blood to the lung surface for oxygenation. The artery walls become fibrous and thickened. Soon, internal deposits on the thickened walls make the arteries so narrow that little blood can get through. Eventually many tiny arteries are blocked completely...
Even while the heart is being asked to overexert, carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke combines with red blood cells and decreases their capacity to carry oxygen. As a result, the hard-working heart muscle is given less fuel to do its job. At the same time, tobacco's nicotine causes a constriction of small arteries in the extremities and speeds up the heart, increasing its need for oxygen and complicating the coronary problem...