COLOGNE, Germany, Sep 9, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- People who can quit smoking
before surgery can halve their risk of poor wound healing, researchers in
Germany found.
Peter Sawicki of the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
analyzed current research showing that nicotine replacement therapy can help
people quit smoking and avoid complications after surgery.
Nicotine replacement therapy helps reduce withdrawal symptoms when people stop
smoking by giving them nicotine through a patch or chewing gum.
The study, published on informedhealthonline.org, said trials showed 14 percent
of the patients who smoked had problems with wound healing if they had nicotine
replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery, compared to 28 percent
of the patients who did not have nicotine replacement therapy.
"It is not easy to quit smoking just before an operation," Sawicki said in a
statement. "But people who smoke are more likely to have complications after
surgery than people who do not smoke."
Anesthetics and surgery put a strain on the body's oxygen supply as it is, but
smoking further reduces the amount of oxygen that is available in the blood,
making it more difficult for wounds to heal -- a process that requires oxygen,
Sawicki said.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International