Cytologic study of E-cig effect on oral mucosa cells

Abstract

The aim of this study is to verify possible inflammatory and cellular maturation changes in electronic cigarette vaporizers (E-cig) and to compare them with chronic smokers, former smokers and non-smokers. Exfoliative cytology of lateral border of the tongue of 80 patients will be collected and smears will be divided into four groups: E-cig group: 20 electronic cigarette vaporizers for at least 6 months, coming from social network invitations; Smoking group: 20 smokers of industrialized cigarettes; Ex-smoker group: 20 patients with abstinence from industrialized cigarettes for at least 1 year and a maximum of 2 years; Control group: 20 consecutive patients, non-smokers and non-electronic cigarette vaporizers. The smokers will be evaluated for the smoking profile and for nicotinic dependence through the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence. Electronic cigarette vaporizers will be subjected to analysis of capillary cotinine concentration. The smears will be submitted to Papanicolaou staining and will be classified according to the parameters defined by Papanicolaou and Traut (1941). If parametric, the obtained data will receive statistical analysis using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and, if not parametric, the Kruskall-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests.