A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports correlates higher levels of pollutant particulate matter to higher occurrences of head and neck aerodigestive cancer. The article, "Air Pollution Exposure and Head and Neck Cancer Incidence," is the work of a multi-institutional collaboration with researchers from Wayne State University, Johns Hopkins University and Mass General Brigham. The study was led by John Cramer, Ph.
D., associate professor of otolaryngology, and John Peleman, M.D.
, medical resident in the Department of Otolaryngology, in the Wayne State University School of Medicine. They collaborated with Mass General Brigham, an integrated academic health care system. There has been previous research on air pollution, but the effects mostly were connected to cancers within the lower respiratory system.
Head and neck cancer is a harder link to show, and it has a much lower occurrence than lung cancers, but since they also occur as a result of smoking, similar to lung cancers, we wanted to explore any connections. Presumably, the link to head and neck cancer comes from what we breathe to that material affecting the lining in the head and neck. We see a lot of occurrences of where carcinogens touch or pool in the body to where cancers can occur.
" John Cramer, Ph.D., associate professor of otolaryngology, Wayne State University School of Medicine "While there has been substantial research investigating the effects of air pollutants on lung disease, few studies h.