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A new study using a special type of MRI, shows evidence that second hand smoke causes lung damage in non-smokers.

The study, done at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was presented in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. It found that one third of the non-smokers in the study group had structural changes in their lungs similar to smokers. “We interpreted those changes as early signs of lung damage, representing very mild forms of emphysema” says Chengobo Wang, Ph.D. Weng is magnetic imaging physicist in the Radiology Department of the hospital. He is also the team leader.

“To our knowledge, this is the first imaging study to find lung damage in non smokers heavily exposed to secondhand smoke,” said Wang.

The study defines ‘high exposure’ as living with a smoker for at least 10 years, often during childhood and according to Wang that has implications for the 35% of American children who live in homes where regular smoking occurs.

Wang collaborated with radiology researchers at the University of Virginia, where he used to work, to acquire the MRIs from 60 adult smokers and non-smokers between the ages of 41 and 79. 45 of them had never smoked. They divided the non-smokers into 2 groups with low and high exposure to second hand smoke. The 15 smokers were the control group.

The researchers prepared an isotope of helium that had been polarized so the MRI machine could measure the movement of the atoms over 1.5 seconds.. They diluted it with nitrogen and had the study participants inhale it. The inhaled helium atoms allowed the MRI to reveal holes and expanded spaces within the tiny sac s in the lungs called alveoli. The changes, which were consistent with mild emphysema, were similar in the lungs of the smokers and the non-smokers.

The study also found evidence that may reflect a narrowing in the airways of the non-smokers that could be caused by the early stages of chronic bronchitis. Wang and his team say these 2nd findings need further study.

In a statement, Went said, “We hope our work strengthens the efforts of legislators and policymakers to limit public exposure to secondhand smoke.”

SOURCE: Annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Nov. 2007

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Aid / Disasters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.