by Dr. Prithwish Banerjee

I deal with heart disease and encounter smoking related heart disease almost everyday. Smoking is a principal, preventable cause of premature death in the developed world. It is a major cause of coronary artery disease (CAD), a condition where the blood vessels supplying the heart muscles become narrowed leading to chest pains (angina) or heart attacks. The image below shows a coronary artery (blood vessel supplying the heart) with a tight narrowing affecting the mid segment. This is often a finding in smokers.

For comparison, this next image of the same heart artery shows a normal artery with no narrowings.

Heart attacks lead to damage of the heart muscle, which can lead to the failure of the heart to pump adequately. This can cause fluid build-up in the lungs as well as in the limbs. This condition, called heart failure, is very common and associated with a very high rate of disability and death.

This first short movie clip is of an ultrasound scan of a heart damaged by a heart attack. The main chamber of the heart called the left ventricle (LV) is enlarged, with damaged, thin walls, and does not contract well. Stasis of blood in this chamber has also led to a 'smoky' appearance inside the chamber.

Damaged Left Ventricle

The second clip, for comparison, is showing a normal heart with good contraction of the left ventricle (upper right hand chamber).

Normal Left Ventricle

Smoking multiplies the effect of other risk factors for CAD like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Men who smoke have a 60%-70% greater death rate than those who don't. Sudden death may be the first manifestation of CAD in young male smokers. Women smokers have a 10 times increased risk of developing CAD than non-smokers.

Low tar cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are not effective substitutes for discontinuing the use of tobacco products. Passive smoking in those who have never smoked increases the risk of CAD.

Smoking cessation produces immediate and long-term benefits. There is a substantial decrease in the risk of a heart attack within 1 year of stopping smoking. Those who quit smoking prior to the age of 50 have half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared to continuing smokers.

Below you'll find a few poems I've written which my wife thinks are a waste of my time but I hope will help open your mind to where smoking is leading you and how much you stand to lose.

Dr. Prithwish Banerjee, Dip Card, MD, MRCP
Department of Academic Cardiology
The University of Hull, England

Special thanks to Dr. Justin Ghosh for his help in acquiring the above images.

Smoking and Circulation
by Joel Spitzer

How Smoking Destroys Blood Circulation
by John R. Polito

• WhyQuit.com   Founded in July 1999, WhyQuit is the Internet's oldest forum devoted to the art, science and psychology of cold turkey quitting, the nicotine dependency recovery method that each year produces more successful ex-users than all other methods combined.
  
  
• Why?   Why quit? Here we collect and share WhyQuit's motivational articles. It's our hope that these materials will contribute toward fueling your dreams and resolve long enough to allow you to arrive here on Easy Street with us.
  
  
• Joel's Library Joel Spitzer devoted nearly 50 years toward teaching why smokers should quit, how to quit, and how to stay free. Joel's Library is home to Joel's "Daily Quitting Lesson Guide," Joel's 100 Reinforcement Articles, to his free ebook Never Take Another Puff, and his collection of nearly 500 video stop smoking lessons.
  
  
• Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home Written by John R. Polito, a former 30-year heavy smoker, WhyQuit's founder and Turkeyville's director. While there are hundreds of quitting books, only one was cited by the Surgeon General's 2020 Quit Smoking Report, Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home.
  
  
• Smart Turkey   Smart Turkey is home to recovery articles written by students of Joel Spitzer, which includes "Memorable Freedom Threads"
  
  
• Turkeyville If quitting cold turkey and looking for a deadly serious and highly focused support group, visit Turkeyville. Home to more than 13,000 like-minded quitters, we have two requests before posting. First, carefully read Turkeyville's Rules as membership and posting are conditioned upon them. Last, do not post if still using nicotine as posting is reserved for those who have stopped.
  
  
• Nicotine Cessation Topic Index An alphabetical subject matter index to hundreds of nicotine cessation support group discussions, article and videos.
  
  
• 50 Quitting Tips Key cold turkey nicotine cessation insights into how to stop smoking, vaping, chewing or sucking nicotine into your body and bloodstream.