Long-term exposure to secondhand smoke can increase the risk of laryngeal cancer

Grandma Li is 62 years old this year. She retired from her unit when she was 50 years old. After retirement, she has been staying at home. Her children are working in other places, and she and her husband are the only ones. Three years ago, her husband died of illness, and Grandma Li's life became more monotonous and lonely. A good friend who often hangs out with Grandma Li advised her to play mahjong to relieve boredom, and told her that there was a chess and card room full of elderly people. Playing cards together would not win or lose much, which was suitable for entertainment, so Grandma Li went there. Grandma Li herself did not have the habit of smoking, but her mahjong friends smoked. Due to the poor ventilation conditions in the chess and card room, she always felt smoky. At first, Grandma Li was not used to it and always coughed because of choking. Later, she gradually got used to it. Not long after the beginning of winter, Grandma Li caught a cold and kept coughing badly. Later, her voice changed and became low and hoarse. She took a lot of cough suppressants but it didn't get better. Later, Grandma Li gradually felt that it was difficult to breathe, so she went to the hospital to see a doctor. Unexpectedly, the examination results turned out to be that she had laryngeal cancer.

Grandma Li herself does not smoke, but she lives in the same room with smokers for a long time and often breathes secondhand smoke. The smoke produced by tobacco burning contains a large amount of toxic substances such as nicotine and tar, which can irritate the laryngeal mucosa, stop or slow the cilia movement of the laryngeal mucosal epithelial cells, cause mucosal edema and bleeding, and cause epithelial hyperplasia, thickening, and squamous metaplasia, which becomes the basis for cancer. In addition, the strong carcinogen benzopyrene contained in the tobacco tar produced during tobacco burning can also increase the risk of laryngeal cancer.