Bronchial Epithelium in Former Smokers

IN previous investigations we have found a very high degree of relation between amount of cigarette smoking and the frequency of certain changes in the bronchial epithelium of men.1 , 3 These changes include hyperplasia, loss of ciliated columnar cells and the occurrence of cells with atypical nuclei. In our opinion the most significant changes short of invasive carcinoma are lesions composed entirely of such atypical cells with cilia absent. Large numbers of such lesions occurred in the bronchial epithelium of men who had died of lung cancer, and almost as many were found in the bronchial epithelium of heavy cigarette smokers . . .