Potential benefits and hazards associated with the use of e-cigarettes - a guide for practitioners and current status in Poland.

The use of electronic cigarettes has dynamically increased over the last few years. Meanwhile, the knowledge regarding their safety has been rapidly changing, which could be a challenge for a medical practitioner. The purpose of this review is to summarize the latest reports and to verify statements on e-cigarettes' influence on health, including in the context of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Awareness of the benefits of e-cigarettes can provide vital support for doctors caring for patients who smoke tra-ditional cigarettes. Nevertheless, attention should be paid to the dangers of the medically unjustified use of electronic cigarettes. Despite the idea of releasing e-cigarettes into the market as a harmless alternative to traditional cigarettes, this product also has a negative impact on health. Replacing traditional cigarettes with e-cigarettes provides well-documented benefits to patients with certain indications such as hypertension and asthma, as well as to smokers who intend to minimize the negative effects of passive smoking on their environment. Moreover, it could be valuable for patients who are willing to permanently overcome a nicotine addiction, especially when previous attempts to quit smoking with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) monotherapy were unsuccessful. Electronic cigarettes are a rapidly developing technology and an innovative form of a well-known addiction, so it is essential for practitioners to stay informed.

Rapid oncological diagnosis of lung cancer patients - specific facility experience.

Lung cancer is the most common type of tumour in the world. In Poland, 1/6 of oncological patients are diagnosed with lung cancer. Similarly, it is the most common cause of death that affects those patients. Lack of clinical signs at the early stage as well as the absence of effective screening diagnosis, lead to 80% of patients being diagnosed at the 3rd or 4th stage of the disease. In order to improve the diagnostic procedure by the public health service, an organisational solution called the Rapid Oncological Therapy has been introduced. The introduction of the programme caused criticism of the medical community, and state control authorities showed irregularities in its functioning in medical centers. Its aim was to assess the process among lung cancer patients who were hospitalised in our center during the period of 9 months.