Asbestos Diseases - treatment and care

This website provides information primarily about compensation and benefits. Your hospital specialists; nurses and GP will provide the best advice as to treatment and care.

Mesothelioma

"Mesothelioma is a rare tumour in persons who have not been exposed to asbestos, occurring with an annual incidence of around one per million population, and most cases occur in persons who have been so exposed. Occasional spontaneous cases unrelated to asbestos exposure do occur, however. When there is a history of past asbestos exposure the balance of probabilities strongly favours that exposure having been responsible for a mesothelioma which occurs subsequently.

Asbestos fibre types differ in their propensity to cause mesotheliomas. Crocidolite (blue asbestos) is the most potent, then amosite (brown or grey asbestos) and chrysotile (white asbestos) the least potent.....

Mesothelioma can occur after low level asbestos exposure and there is no threshold dose of asbestos below which there is no risk. However, the risk that mesothelioma will occur increases in proportion to the dose of asbestos received and successive periods of exposure each augment the risk that mesothelioma will occur.

There is on average, a long latent interval between first exposure to asbestos and the clinical manifestations of mesothelioma, more that 30 years in most series, but the range of intervals is large, extending down to ten years and perhaps in rare cases, and upwards with no upper limit...

All employments involving asbestos exposure up to 10 years before the onset of clinical manifestations will have contributed to the risk that mesothelioma would develop. The mechanisms of causation are incompletely understood. Thus all exposure which contributed to the risk that mesothelioma would occur should be regarded as having contributed to causation of the mesothelioma..."  Dr. Robin Rudd.

Also: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelioma

A definitive and most informative summary of care is provided by the BTS [British Thoracic Society] Standards of Care Committee - "BTS Statement on Malignant Mesothelioma in the UK". http://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/clinical-information/mesothelioma.aspx

HSE. Mesothelioma Mortality in Great Britain: Analyses by Geographical Area and Occupation 2005
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/mesojune08.pdf


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Lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure

"People who have been in prolonged or close contact with asbestos have a higher risk of lung cancer, especially if they smoke. Asbestos and tobacco smoke act together to increase the risk. Many people have been in contact with asbestos during their working lives. Low-level exposure increases the risk of lung cancer only slightly, compared to the risk from smoking, while heavy exposure may result in a much higher risk of lung cancer".  From www.cancerbackup.org.uk website

This is a complex area of asbestos litigation. See also : The “Helsinki Criteria” for Attribution of Lung Cancer to Asbestos Exposure: How Robust Are the Criteria? Victor L. Roggli, MD; Samuel P. Hammar, MD; John C. Maddox, MD; Douglas W. Henderson, MBBS, FRCPA, FRCPath, FHKCPath
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Asbestosis

Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory medical condition affecting the parenchymal tissue of the lungs. It occurs after long-term, heavy exposure to asbestos, e.g. in mining, and is therefore regarded as an occupational lung disease. Sufferers have severe dyspnea (shortness of breath) and are at an increased risk regarding several different types of lung cancer. Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestosis

 Photo from internet

Diffuse pleural thickening

Diffuse pleural thickening consists of extensive fibrosis. Diffuse pleural thickening most commonly follows extensive asbestos exposure, although not inevitably.

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Asbestos and laryngeal cancer

"A variety of opinions have been expressed in the literature concerning asbestos and laryngeal cancer. This paper presents an analysis of epidemiological studies based on criteria that prioritized the most heavily exposed cohorts".  "Epidemiological evidence indicates asbestos causes laryngeal cancer". Smith AH, Handley MA, Wood R. Department of Biomedical and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.[from Medline internet]
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Asbestos and retroperitoneal fibrosis 

From the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council Annual Report. A relatively uncommon disease causing scarring of the retroperitoneum. The review by IIAC followed a Court case that this condition was caused by exposure to asbestos and whether it should be added to the prescribed list of occupational diseases.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15732372

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Asbestos and oesophageal cancer

"Conclusion. Some studies have found an association between asbestos exposure and esophageal cancer, but the overall results of epidemiologic studies are mixed. In addition, what little evidence there is from animal experiments about asbestos’s carcinogenic potential specifically on esophageal tissues does not support biological activity at this site. On the basis of those observations, the committee concluded that the evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or absence of a causal relationship between asbestos exposure and esophageal cancer". From: "Esophageal Cancer and Asbestos" from "Asbestos: Selected Cancers" (2006). Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice [US].
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11665&page=193

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Pleural plaques

Pleural plaques are an indication of previous asbestos exposure but should not cause a physical illness. Although thousands of compensation claims were paid by insurers for many years this is no longer so due to a Court case Rothwell [2007]. There have been campaigns. Pleural plaques claims are allowed in Scotland and Northern Ireland but not in England and Wales [as at February 2012]. See also:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/pleural-plaques.htm