Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure

There are several illnesses associated with asbestos exposure. The most common include:

• asbestosis,
• lung cancer, and
• mesothelioma

The risk of developing a mesothelioma is related to how much asbestos a person was exposed to and how long this exposure lasted. People exposed at an early age, for a long period of time and at higher levels are most likely to develop this cancer. Mesothelioma takes a long time to develop. The time between exposure to asbestos and diagnosis of mesothelioma is usually between 20 and 40 years.

However, unlike other conditions associated with asbestos that are directly linked to cumulative contact, mesothelioma can result from very short-term exposures. In about 3% of cases, workers had less than 3 months exposure to asbestos. Extensive exposure is also not necessarily a factor in the development of mesothelioma. Family members exposed only to dust particles brought in to the home on the worker's clothes and/or hairs have also been known to develop mesothelioma.

The two main forms of asbestos are serpentine and amphibole. Chrysotile (or white asbestos) is the only form of serpentine asbestos. It is curly and flexible and accounts for 90% of commercial asbestos. Various types of amphibole asbestos exist and they occur as microscopically thin, sharp rods that can penetrate deeply into the lungs. The risk of developing malignant mesothelioma is greatest with crocidolite (blue asbestos) and amosite (brown asbestos). Amongst persons not exposed to asbestos, malignant mesothelioma is very rare, affecting 2-17 people per million. However the risk increases more than 1000 times in those exposed to asbestos. In all, 1 in 10 asbestos workers die from malignant mesothelioma (pleural or peritoneal).