October 16, 2014 – : e-cigarettes and Cancer Patients

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Anchor lead:  Do e-cigarettes help people with cancer quit smoking? Elizabeth Tracey reports

People diagnosed with cancer who were advised to quit smoking were no more likely to do so with the use of electronic cigarettes as part of a quitting strategy, a recent study found.  Matthew Johnson, a behavior and addictions researcher at Johns Hopkins, describes the findings.

Johnson: In non-cancer patients, e-cigarettes can perform like other forms of nicotine replacement and show similar levels of smoking cessation. With cancer patients this is the first study I’m aware of.  It may be that e-cigarettes are not effective above and beyond finding out that one has cancer, which itself can help many people to quit.  But there really is not the evidence right now to suggest that cancer patients should use e-cigarettes as a cessation device.   :31

Johnson says the benefits of smoking cessation are well known, even among those who already have cancer, so a multipronged approach with nicotine replacement and counseling may be more helpful.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.