Asbestos cancer is a fatal condition that can mainly affect the lining of the lungs, but also sometimes the peritoneum and the heart. The disease mainly occurs in people over the age of 50 and is caused by frequent contact with asbestos. Read more about the causes and symptoms of asbestos cancer below. Unfortunately, there is no curative treatment for this disease yet.

What is asbestos cancer?

Asbestos cancer – also called pleural cancer or mesothelioma – is an incurable form of lung cancer. Every year, 750 people die from this condition in the Netherlands. People who have previously come into contact with asbestos have an increased risk of asbestos cancer. The time between exposure to asbestos and the development of asbestos cancer is usually more than 20 years, but it can easily be more than 40 years. Mainly old people get asbestos cancer. A decrease in the number of patients with asbestos cancer is expected after 2018. This is because there is a ban on asbestos in the Netherlands.

Asbestos and the cause of asbestos cancer

Asbestos is a natural product consisting of minerals. These minerals consist of small fibers. These loose fibers can pose a health hazard as these fibers are so small that they can be inhaled. Here the fibers can get stuck in the alveoli, affecting lung capacity and making breathing difficult. Your body is able to remove the asbestos fibers, but residues will certainly remain. These residues can spread throughout the rest of the body and settle in other tissues. Because the large remains in particular cannot be removed by the macrophages in your body, it is assumed that the size of the asbestos fibers determines the degree of carcinogenicity. Working with small forms of asbestos is therefore possible without sustaining significant damage. However, you still run an additional risk. The remains of asbestos in your lungs can eventually grow into a tumor, also called a mesothelioma . This tumor in turn significantly reduces lung function.In addition to macrophages, T cells are also important. Macrophages and T cells are your body’s defense. T cells are able to destroy malignant cells and macrophages can remove all foreign substances by absorbing them. This way the body is kept clean. The macrophages and T cells are controlled by our body and are part of the immune system. A poorly functioning immune system therefore means that the macrophages and T cells also work less well.

Symptoms

Because asbestos cancer mainly affects the lining of the lungs, most complaints from people with this condition concern the lungs. The symptoms of asbestos cancer are listed below.

• Shortness of breath
• Much coughing
• Chest pain

The severity of the pain is determined by the location of the tumor. If the tumor is close to the nerves, the pain will be more severe and sometimes unbearable. The pain gradually increases as the tumor grows. In the first phase of growth, people will mainly have to cough a lot. During the growth of the tumor, the person’s breathing capacity decreases and they will experience shortness of breath. This is usually also accompanied by a conditional decline.

Therapy

Unfortunately, there is no treatment that can cure asbestos cancer. In the past, attempts have been made to remove the tumor with surgical procedures, but because the area in which the operation takes place is risky, few people survive this procedure. Of all people diagnosed with asbestos cancer, more than half die within the first year. This is an unprecedentedly high figure and it is why many alternative treatments are being tested to cure asbestos cancer. In the short term, this focuses on reducing the patient’s pain. After all, chest pain can be unbearable. In the long term, an attempt is made to stop the tumor from growing or to allow it to grow in a targeted manner. In this way, the survival of patients can be extended. In the future, it may be possible for patients to be effectively irradiated and given drugs that only attack the malignant tumors. This combination might be effective in combating the disease, but it is still too early to say whether this is actually possible.