Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Bad Habit That Can Screw Up Your Surgery

The Bad Habit That Can Screw Up Your Surgery

Bad addiction.

Another reason to ditch cigarettes: Smoking increases your risk of post-op complications, say researchers at the University of Rochester.

In the study, smokers were 30 percent more likely to have difficulties from elective surgeries for both colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.

Why? “Nicotine causes your blood vessels to constrict and carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen sent to your tissues. Together, this keeps oxygenated blood from flowing to healing tissues, which increases the risk of sepsis or infection,” says study author Fergal Fleming, M.D.

The nasty habit actually increases your risk of complications in most other surgeries, too (beyond the ones looked at in the study). The silver lining: “6 to 8 weeks smoke-free is enough to reduce lung-related complications up to three-fold,” Dr. Fleming says. But know that the longer you’re clean, the lower your risk that long-term side effects of smoking—cardiovascular disease and permanent lung damage—develop into something more serious post-surgery, like pneumonia or heart attack.

To go cold turkey, find support: “Patients are more likely to succeed in quitting if they join smoking cessation programs—which have also been shown to reduce post-op complications by 40 percent,” says Dr. Fleming. Consider finding one online: People who share struggles on social media are more successful at kicking the habit than those who seek support offline, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

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