Cancer centers push patients to quit smoking
By Carla K. Johnson
article
When cancer patients stop smoking, they heal faster, experience fewer side effects from treatment, and lower their chances of tumors returning. Now, top cancer hospitals are helping patients quit as evidence mounts that it's never too late.
The newest research, reported Monday, shows lung cancer patients who stopped smoking gained nearly two years of life compared to those who continued to smoke.
"It is a huge effect," said Dr. Mahdi Sheikh, who led the study for the World Health Organization's cancer research agency in Lyon, France. In lung cancer, he said, quitting smoking is "as necessary as the treatments."