Does drinking alcohol cause lung cancer? Doctor: Drinking alcohol has nothing to do with lung cancer! The real causes of lung cancer are these things

Lung cancer refers to a malignant tumor that originates in the bronchial epithelium and alveolar epithelium. The "2019 Global Cancer Statistics" published in the official journal of the American Cancer Society shows that my country's cancer incidence and mortality rates are both the highest in the world!

In January 2019, the National Cancer Center of China released the latest national cancer statistics, showing that on average more than 10,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every day, and 7.5 people are diagnosed with cancer every minute. Cancer is currently one of the malignant tumors with the highest incidence rate.

So is there a relationship between lung cancer and drinking? Many people first think that there is a relationship. After all, alcohol is not good for the human body. Its metabolite acetaldehyde has obvious carcinogenic effects. Acetaldehyde can quickly combine with cell proteins and DNA, causing replication errors, oncogene or tumor suppressor gene mutations, and ultimately leading to lung cancer. In addition, the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the body induces the production of oxidative stress products, cytochrome P450, which may affect the metabolism of other carcinogens. However, the actual results are different from what was expected. From the current research, there is no clear relationship between drinking and the occurrence of lung cancer.

This is a prospective cohort study on the relationship between drinking and male lung cancer, published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology in 2018:

In addition to domestic data support, more research has been done abroad on the relationship between drinking and lung cancer.

Foreign research on drinking and lung cancer

In a paper on the correlation between lung cancer and drinking, researchers selected a prospective cohort study of residents aged 50 to 76 in Washington State. Through the Washington Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Cancer Registry, a total of 66,186 participants who had never had cancer were studied. The final conclusions are as follows:

There was no clear link between lung cancer and the amount of beer, wine, liquor, or hard liquor consumed. Drinking more than three mixed alcoholic drinks per day was not associated with an increased risk of lung cancer overall.

What is lung cancer related to? At present, the cause and pathogenesis of lung cancer are not clear, but it is generally believed to be related to the following factors:

1. Smoking

Numerous studies have shown that smoking is the primary cause of the progressive increase in lung cancer mortality. Benzopyrene, nicotine, nitrosamines and a small amount of radioactive elements such as polonium in smoke are carcinogenic, especially squamous cell carcinoma and undifferentiated small cell carcinoma. Compared with non-smokers, smokers have an average risk of 4-10 times higher risk of lung cancer, and heavy smokers have a risk of up to 10-25 times higher risk.

2. Carcinogenic factors

Confirmed occupational factors that cause lung cancer in humans include asbestos, arsenic, chromium, nickel, beryllium, coal tar, mustard gas, trichloromethyl ether, chloromethyl methyl ether, heating products of tobacco, radon and radon protons produced by the decay of radioactive materials such as uranium and radium, ionizing radiation, and microwave radiation.

3. Ionizing radiation

Lung cancer can be caused by high doses of ionizing radiation, such as medical X-rays or military radioactive materials.

4. Air pollution

Residents who live in industrial and heavily polluted areas for a long time inhale large amounts of benzopyrene in the air every day.

5. Heredity and genetic changes

Mutations of oncogenes closely related to lung cancer are closely related to the occurrence of lung cancer.

What are the types of lung cancer? Lung cancer is divided into two types according to its cell morphology and biological behavior: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.

1. Small cell undifferentiated carcinoma.

Small cell undifferentiated carcinoma is also called oat cell carcinoma because its cell morphology is similar to oat grains. It accounts for about 20% of all lung cancers. It is more common in male patients who smoke a lot for a long time. Small cell undifferentiated carcinoma often originates from larger bronchi, so most of them are central lung cancers.

2. Non-small cell lung cancer

Except for small cell undifferentiated carcinoma, other types of lung cancer are collectively referred to as non-small cell lung cancer, which mainly includes the following types:

1) Squamous cell carcinoma. Also known as squamous cell carcinoma, it is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for about 30-50% of all lung cancers.

2) Adenocarcinoma. Adenocarcinomas mostly originate from the smaller bronchial mucosal epithelium, so adenocarcinomas are mostly located in the periphery of the lungs (i.e. peripheral lung cancer), are spherical, and close to the pleura. Adenocarcinoma patients are more common in women, and there is no obvious relationship between adenocarcinoma and smoking.

3) Undifferentiated large cell carcinoma. Undifferentiated large cell carcinoma is a relatively rare type of lung cancer. More than half of them originate from larger bronchi. The tumor is highly malignant and large in size. Lymph node or blood metastasis can occur without obvious symptoms in the early stage. Sometimes, the diagnosis of undifferentiated large cell carcinoma of the lung can only be made when symptoms appear in distant metastatic lesions.

What are the symptoms of lung cancer? Many people have no obvious symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer. As cancer cells proliferate and tumors invade normal tissues, the following corresponding symptoms will appear.

(1) Cough (irritating dry cough): Cough is the most common symptom of lung cancer patients when they seek medical treatment, and it often manifests as an irritating cough in the early stages.

Irritating dry cough is a typical manifestation of lung cancer

(2) Blood in sputum and hemoptysis: Since tumor tissue is often rich in blood vessels, some patients may have blood in sputum due to tumor necrosis. If the tumor invades larger blood vessels, it may cause hemoptysis.

(3) Chest tightness: Tumor compression may lead to a reduction in lung breathing area and even cause pleural effusion, which may manifest as worsening chest tightness and shortness of breath.

(4) Weight loss, fatigue, and fever: Tumors may cause consumption and loss of appetite, leading to fatigue and weight loss. Tumor patients often have intermittent moderate or low-grade fever, and may have high fever when combined with infection.

(5) Chest pain: When the tumor invades the parietal pleura, muscle nerves or bone tissue, the pain may become more severe, lasting and fixed in location. A superior sulcus tumor is located higher and may cause persistent pain in the shoulder, chest and back or radiating pain in the axilla.

Since early lung cancer has no symptoms, how can we detect it in time? The key to diagnosing early lung cancer is early cancer screening!

Please choose low-dose spiral CT scan of the chest!

Please choose low-dose spiral CT examination of the chest!!

Please choose low-dose spiral CT examination of the chest!!!

Many people still do chest X-rays or chest radiography during physical examinations. These examinations have low resolution and are prone to missed diagnoses. The detection rate of lung cancer is low. Even if lung cancer is found, the stage of lung cancer found by X-ray examination is often late, which fails to achieve the purpose of early detection of lung cancer. Now thoracic surgery experts have reached a consensus that chest X-ray examination cannot effectively screen lung cancer early, and it is not recommended as a lung cancer screening method. At present, for lung cancer screening, it is recommended that high-risk groups undergo a low-dose spiral CT examination of the chest (lungs) once a year.

Which groups of people should pay more attention to early screening of lung cancer? The Expert Consensus on Low-dose Spiral CT Lung Cancer Screening issued by the Cardiothoracic Group of the Radiology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association defines the following groups as high-risk groups for lung cancer:

People aged 45 to 70 years old with a history of smoking, a history of exposure to toxic and harmful substances (relevant occupational history), and a family history of malignant tumors.

It is also recommended that high-risk groups undergo a low-dose spiral CT examination once a year. If lung shadows or nodules are found, further treatment can be carried out according to the specific situation, such as regular follow-up, further PET-CT examination, or biopsy for pathological confirmation when necessary.

Standardized screening, early detection and surgical treatment can effectively reduce the pain and economic burden of cancer patients.