The Development of Secondary Pathology with free Radical Reactions as a Threshold Mechanism

Fibrocystic disease Respiratory Trad Tuberculosis AsbestosisCarcinoma of breast 1 5 , 1 6Lung cancer 1 7 Bronch-alveolar carcinoma, or l a mesothelioma Other Osteomyelitis sinusSkin and soft tissue 19 only after they have caused long-term, repetitive ulcerations of the gums or oral mucosa If the ill-fitting dentures are used for only a short period of time, and the ulcers heal, cancer does not develop.Further, properly fitted dentures do not lead to cancer, and one would not therefore condemn dentures in general as a cause of cancer.To pose an indirect cancer risk, dentures need to be all of the following: 1) ill-fitting, 2) ulcerogenic and 3) of long term use.Chronicity of ulceration is thus an important form of secondary pathology, and the dose regimen required to produce this circumstance is a threshold mechanism.Another example of a substance or factor that is not a true carcinogen, but merely a cause of the required type of secondary pathology is trauma to the uterine cervix.Repetitive obstetrical trauma, as would be occasioned by multi-parity, or high-frequency rates of intercourse, as in prostitution, produce active, ongoing inflammation of the cervix, accompanied by frequent erosions and mucosal tears.The net result i s that multi-parity carries with it a high risk for cancer of the cervix, as does prostitution because of the secondary pathology that is induced, The mere fact of childbirth, or intercourse, is not a carcinogenic risk, There are other ongoing chronic inflammatory conditions in medicine that lead to a high risk of cancer.Both fibrocystic disease of the breast and chronic ulcerative colitis predispose to malignancies in their respective anatomic locations.Whatever the underlying cause of these two disorders is,