Symptoms of Asbestos Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a devastating disease that has emerged in recent years as the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women worldwide. More people in the United States die of lung cancer than breast, colon, lymphoma, and prostate cancers combined, and the number of people diagnosed likely will continue to increase every passing year.
Many people may think of lung cancer as a preventable disease that is only associated with those who smoke heavily. While it is true that smoking accounts for a large number of all lung cancer cases, it is not the only reason a person may develop lung cancer. Other than smoking, there are several other potential causes of lung cancer, but none more common than asbestos exposure—the second-leading cause of all lung cancers and one of the most prevalent forms of asbetos cancer.
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People who worked in industries that relied heavily on asbestos use are 90 percent more likely to develop lung ailments than people who do not smoke or have not been exposed to asbestos. In addition, the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure drastically increases the likelihood that a person will develop lung cancer. Research recently conducted by the National Cancer Institute indicates that people exposed to asbestos can reduce their risk of developing lung cancer by as much as 50 percent within 5 years of quitting smoking.
Symptoms of Asbestos Cancer
Workers involved in manufacturing, milling, mining or the installation and handling of asbestos products over long periods of time before the mid-1970s have the greatest risk of developing asbestos-related lung cancers. Military personnel and shipyard workers, especially those who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, are also at risk of becoming sick because of a high rate of asbestos exposure while they constructed battleships.
There are two principal types of asbestos-related lung cancers: cancer of the lung tissue (lung cancer) and
mesothelioma. Oftentimes these diseases have the same signs and symptoms of a breathing disorder like asthma, and patients can be mistakenly diagnosed with a common cold, pneumonia or a variety of other ailments. Those symptoms and warning signs, however, hide a more serious, underlying condition.
These asbestos-related cancers are usually not highly curable. Since these diseases do not progress quickly after exposure, they typically are not diagnosed until the disease has progressed into its latter stages. In fact, only about 16 percent of lung cancers are diagnosed early enough for highly effective treatments. These cancers incubate or arise slowly over many years and progressively increase in severity over time. The long-term effects of asbestos exposure and these cancers' symptoms usually do not appear for 20 to 30 or more years after exposure.
Mesothelioma Treatment
Usually, the management and treatment of asbestos-related cancers depends on how advanced the cancer is. If detected early, appropriate treatment methods can be implemented to benefit the patient. If the cancer is in its early stages, surgical removal of the tumor—in addition to chemotherapy and radiotherapy—can increase a patient’s survival rate. 
The most common form of asbestos-related lung cancer is small cell carcinoma, which often begins in the lungs' breathing tubes and usually metastasizes quickly. Common symptoms include:
1. Chest pain
2. Coughing up blood
3. Fatigue
4. Hoarseness
5. Neck and face swelling
6. Persistent chest, shoulder, or back pain that worsens with deep breaths
7. Repeated bouts of bronchitis or pneumonia
8. Cough
9. Shortness of breath
10. Weight loss
Usually when lung cancer spreads, or metastasizes, to other areas of the body, additional symptoms can arise. Advanced lung cancers may affect the liver, brain or even the spine. When the cancer metastasizes to the brain, it can cause blurred vision, headaches or seizures. If it metastasizes to the liver, it can cause jaundice, nausea or vomiting and if it enters the spine it can result in back pain.
Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma affects the mesothelium, or lining surrounding the lungs or abdomen. Pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lungs, accounts for most mesothelioma cases. Peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the abdomen, is less common and accounts for only 10 to 20 percent, and pericardial mesothelioma is even less common.
Unlike lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma can result from as few as one to three months of asbestos exposure. It is a difficult cancer to diagnose because its symptoms are so similar to a variety of common ailments. Since the disease is so rare—only about 3,000 new mesothelioma cases are diagnosed each year in the United States—many doctors are unfamiliar with the disease and treat the symptoms as a different disorder.
In most instances, the most common symptom of pleural mesothelioma is pleural effusion, or fluid buildup surrounding one or both lungs. Other times, patients show no signs of the disease when diagnosed. Other, less common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include:
1. Chest pain
2. Abnormal weight loss
3. Persistent cough and fever
4. Night sweats
5. General malaise
Asbestosis
Asbestosis is another asbestos-related illness that can affect people exposed to asbestos. More common than lung cancer or mesothelioma, asbestosis is a chronic but debilitating lung disease that causes scarring of the lungs, which in turn restricts the lungs' ability to expand and contract sufficiently. While asbestosis is seldom fatal, people with asbestosis are at great risk of developing lung cancer. In fact, studies show that one in seven people who have asbestosis eventually will develop lung cancer.
Asbestosis shares many of the same symptoms of lung cancer—coughing, chest pain, decreased tolerance for physical exertion and shortness of breath. The symptoms' severity is often related to the amount and length of asbestos-exposure; symptoms are sometimes nonexistent or minor enough that the person hardly notices.