Doctors Discover New Lung Injury Related To Vaping Known As 'Popcorn Lung'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new kind of lung injury related to vaping has been revealed. This new vaping injury called "popcorn lung," is different from the more than 2,000 that have been documented in the U.S. It's been diagnosed in Ontario, Canada, in a young man who vaped flavored and THC products.
"Popcorn lung" is an injury once seen in factory workers who breathed in a chemical used to create a butter flavor. Now, for the first time, it has been linked to vaping, as a 17-year-old Canadian teenager who used e-cigarettes developed the near-fatal lung condition this past spring.
"Extremely critical, he was on life support and we were concerned he might not survive," Dr. Karen Bosma from the London Health Sciences Center Canada said.
Dr. Bosma treated the patient whose family does not want him identified.
She says what she saw on his imaging did not follow the usual pattern of vaping-related lung injuries that has emerged in recent months.
"We also did CT scans and that gives us a deeper look at the lungs that showed he had a diffuse pattern. So, you picture the branches of a tree in the springtime when a tree is budding, that is what we are seeing on these images of the CT scan and that is in keeping with damage," Dr. Bosma said.
With "popcorn worker's lung," small airways in the lungs become so inflamed and obstructed that they cannot expel carbon dioxide, which can then build up in the body to toxic levels.
The typical lung-related illness associated with vaping causes damage in the tiny air sacs at the end of the airway.
Investigators are testing vaping devices to see which compounds may be causing the lung illness.
The Centers for Disease Control has identified vitamin E acetate as a common thread, but experts doubt that is the only culprit.
"We will absolutely continue to look for everything. We have not just said, 'OK, we have found the vitamin E acetate,' we will continue to analyze and tease apart whatever chemicals are in the samples," New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said.
Federal health officials say vaping-related deaths increased by two, bringing the total to 49. But, overall, they say the injuries appear to be tapering off.
Until the cause of the outbreak is identified, people are advised to refrain from vaping e-cigarettes.
