Smoking during chemotherapy? Not so wise. Cancer patients who continue to smoke during the course of treatment run an increased risk of chemotherapy failure.
Researcher Jessica van der Bol of the Erasmus Medical Center examined 190 patients, both smokers and non-smokers. All these people were undergoing chemotherapy with the ingredient irinotecan (a medicine used to treat cancer).
More white blood cells
When Van der Bol compared the non-smokers and smokers , it turned out that a much lower exposure to the active substance SN-38 was measured in the smokers † The difference with the non-smokers was no less than 40 percent.
In addition, it was also found that smokers have a smaller shortage of white blood cells had. This indicates that chemotherapy is probably less effective in smokers. Because a significant part of the white blood cells is broken down by the strong effect of the chemo †
Passive smoking harmless? Certainly not. Second-hand smoke at a young age causes hearing loss in the teens >
The researcher therefore concludes that patients who smoke during their treatment may be at increased risk of chemotherapy failure † This is mainly because irinotecan (also called Campto) is broken down too quickly in their bodies. In her thesis, Van der Bol has a new dosage formula for irinotecan developed to maximize the success rate of treatment for each patient.
