Smoking behavior and cytology of the cells of smokers

Cytological examinations of lung impression preparations from 131 smoker lungs revealed that the content of smoker cells within lung tissue increases up to a daily consumption of 40 cigarettes. Additional cigarette consumption does not raise the number of smoker cells further. Determination of the nuclei content in the smoker cells of groups with different consumption rates showed that the number of macrophages with more than two nuclei increases in proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked. If more than 50 cigarettes a day were smoked, many multinucleated giant cells were observed. Anamnestic inquiries proved that these cytological changes in the lungs were caused exclusively by the smoking habits of the deceased. Not only the number of cigarettes used per day, but also the manner of inhalation and peculiarities of cigarette smoking are reflected in the morphological changes of lung tissue. For the forensic pathologist, examination of lung impression preparations from smoker lungs makes it possible to note the quantity of daily cigarette consumption of a dead person to help to identify the deceased.