Joint International Conference on Long-term Experiments ...

LUNG CANCER CAUSED BY SMOKING AND CADMIUM AND CHROMIUM IN
HUMAN LUNG TISSUE
Camelia Bara
University of Oradea, Faculty of Environmental Protection
26, General Magheru Street, Oradea
ABSTRACT
The pulmonary Cd and Cr content were determined from 53 lung cancer patients operated
for cancer and from 39 patients who died of non-malignant diseases. The results were
correlated with smoking habits, pulmonary emphysema and occupational history. Both the
pulmonary Cd and Cr increased with the amount of smoking. In ex-smokers the Cr content
in lung tissue did not diminish with the time since stopping smoking, but the Cd did follow
the half-life of about 9 years. The pulmonary Cd, compared with smoking habits, behaved
similarly in both the lung cancer and control patients, whereas Cr in the lung cancer patients
could not be explained solely by smoking, but some of the cancer patients may have been
occupationally exposed to Cr. Speciation was not studied.
Keywords: Cadmium, chromium, smoking, occupational hygiene, lung cancer, pulmonary
emphysema, lobe samples, sample preparation, direct current plasma atomic emission
spectrometry (DCP-AES).
INTRODUCTION
Lung cancer patients have usually been exposed to tobacco smoke for several decades. In
addition to organic compounds, tobacco contains carcinogenic metals such as As, Cd, Cr
and Ni. These metals may function as an indication of tobacco smoking in lung tissue, and
in this respect especially Cd 2 and Cr 3 have proved promising. The main source of Cd in
tobacco is considered to be phosphate fertilizers. Cr is a common environmental pollutant
originating from the burning of coal and from metallurgical chromium and cement
producing plants, and concentrating in tobacco leaves from the contaminated soil. In this
work the pulmonary Cd and Cr content was compared with the smoking habits and
occupational history of patients with and without lung cancer.
Table 1. Age and smoking habits of the lung cancer and control patients
Cancer Control
Number 53 39
Age 61 ±10 67±9
Smoking time (years) 39+11 37± 12
Pack years 41 + 15 36+17
Time since stopping smoking (years) 4 + 7 8±11
539