BRONCHIAL EPITHELIUM IN FORMER SMOKERS
BRONCHIAL EPITHELIUM IN FORMER SMOKERS
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DOI：
10.1056/nejm196207192670302
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发表时间：
1962-01-01
影响因子：
158.5
通讯作者：
HAMMOND, EC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
AUERBACH, O;GARFINKEL, L;HAMMOND, EC
Sections made from the bronchi of 72 men who had been cigarette smokers but had stopped smoking five to forty-five years before death were compared with those of 72 other men who had continued to smoke cigarettes until the final illness and with 72 nonsmokers. None of the 216 had lung cancer. The three groups were so selected that they were matched for occupation, residence history and in two of the groups on the number of cigarettes smoked per day. The slides were randomized by the third and fourth authors and the observations were made by the senior author without any knowledge of the history of the cases from which they came. The senior author consulted with the second author on all problem slides, and the results represent the combined opinion of the pathologist authors. Epithelial lesions of one or more types were found in 97. 8[degree]/o of sections from current cigarette smokers, in 66. 6% from sections of ex-cigarette smokers but in only 25. 7% of sections from nonsmokers. Cells with atypical nuclei comparable to the cells in lung cancer were found in 93. 2% of the sections from current cigarette smokers, in 6. 0% of sections from ex-cigarette smokers but in only 1. 2% of sections from nonsmokers. All 72 current cigarette smokers had many sections containing cells with atypical nuclei. Such cells were found in only 36 of the ex-smokers and in 19 of the 72 nonsmokers. During the study a peculiar type of cell with a disintegrating nucleus was observed in 518 of the total set of 36, 340 sections with epithelium present. These cells with disintegrating nuclei occurred chiefly near the tunica propria and were generally surrounded by epithelial cells with vesicular nuclei. Very rarely were any cells with atypical nuclei found in the same slide. These unique cells with disintegrating nuclei were found only in ex-cigarettes smokers; 43 of the 72 former smokers had them. It appears from this study that the number of cells with atypical nuclei decreases progressively in the bronchial mucosa of ex-cigarette smokers, depending upon the number of years between cessation of smoking and death, although it usually remains above that found in nonsmokers. During the period between cessation of smoking and death unique cells with disintegrating nuclei appear in the mucosa of many ex-cigarette smokers. The present study confirms the observation that cigarette smoking continued up to the terminal illness results in the occurrence of a high percentage of sections containing cells with atypical nuclei in the bronchial mucosa. These cells resenble those found in bronchial carcinoma. In nonsmokers such cells are found in only a small percentage of sections. In ex-cigarette smokers such cells with atypical nuclei occur in smaller numbers than in current cigarette smokers but still five times as frequently as in nonsmokers. Unique cells with disintegrating nuclei, never before observed by us in bronchial mucosa, appeared exclusively in sections from ex-cigarette smokers.
