Hazardous Effect of smoking

Smoking has increased many cardiovascular diseases including heart disease, myocardial infarction pulmonary embolism(not always), stroke and often many others

Today i will be emphasizing mostly on smoking, putting Carbon monoxide and Nicotine as case study.

As we can see the anatomy and visual analysis of a healthy lung and a smokers' lung. A smokers lung is always dark due to deposition of Carbon monoxide and carbon particles. This has a range of effects on the lung.

When these toxins are inhaled Carbon monoxide
and Nicotine from Tobacco, they find there ways into the lungs through the respiratory tract.
Firstly the respiratory tries to adapt to the frequent abrasion and sloughing of the smoke by changing its epithelium (surface lining) from pseudostratified columnar to stratified squamous. This is called metaplasia, a defensive mechanism by body tissue which is harmful. Metaplasia causes generation of cancerous cells, which may cause Cancer.

In the blood, carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying compound in the blood. 60% of the body oxygen is carried by hemoglobin. CO reduces the efficiency of hemoglobin, making it carrying Oxygen ineffectively.

.
Image showing various diseases Hypoxia may open the body to.

Hypoxia meaning reduced in body Oxygen causes stimulation of respiratory centre. This may only occur in chronic smoking.

Both Nicotine and Carbon monoxide damage the endothelial lining of blood vessels. This causes formation of atherosclerotic plug, this cause narrowing of blood vessels whixh can severely reduce blood flow.

In the heart, atherosclerosis causes coronary artery diseases, reducing blood flow to the heart and possibly leading to a referred Chest pain or Angina

-By Dr.S.Venkatesan MD.

In most serious cases where some parts of the heart is deficient of oxygen for too long, this will probably lead to irreversible death of myocardial tissues, this is called Myocardial Infarction or Heart attack.

Watch for any of those signs.

When Nicotine flows through the adrenal gland, it causes the release of epinephrine through alpha receptor, causing vasoconstriction of blood vessels increasing Heart rate, Cardiac output and Blood pressure. This increases the workload on the heart indirectly.

Smoking also increases the risk of blood clot, because it causes platelet in the blood clustered together, causes embolism. Embolism meaning occlusion of an artery by blood clot.
Embolism of the carotid artery leads to stroke because the brain is likely to be deficient of oxygen and nutrient.

Image showing embolus trapped at the bifurcation of right common carotid artery

Stroke leads to improper functioning of the area of the brain affected leading to disabilities or failure.

I will stop here, i hope u really enjoyed it and do take heed from smoking, smokers are liable to die young.