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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffThe severity of asbestosis is generally related to the amount and duration of exposure to asbestos. Effects of the disease may be so mild as to cause almost no symptoms. Or the condition may create such a reduced flow of oxygen as to be disabling or even fatal. Asbestosis may lead to the following conditions:
- High blood pressure in your lungs. Asbestosis-related scar tissue may eventually compress or obliterate your lungs' small blood vessels, causing high blood pressure in your lungs' arteries (pulmonary hypertension).
- Heart problems. Pulmonary hypertension can lead to enlargement and failure of your heart's right ventricle (cor pulmonale). Your heart consists of four chambers — two upper chambers called atria and two lower chambers called ventricles. Your right ventricle assists in pumping oxygen-poor blood from your organs and tissues to your lungs, where your blood receives a new boost of oxygen. As your pulmonary arteries narrow, your heart's right ventricle must work harder to pump blood through your lungs. Initially, your heart tries to compensate by thickening its walls and dilating the right ventricle to increase the amount of blood it can hold. But this measure only works temporarily, and eventually — after a period of a few years — the right ventricle weakens and fails from the extra strain.
- Lung cancer. If you smoke and have asbestosis, your chance of developing lung cancer increases greatly, especially if you smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day. Tobacco smoke and asbestos both contribute to each other's cancer-causing (carcinogenic) effects, so that the combination of both risk factors together is more dangerous than the effects of either risk factor alone.
- Other lung damage. Exposure to asbestos can lead to other health complications, including changes in the thin membranes covering your lungs and lining your chest cavity (pleural membranes). Pleural changes may be the first signs of asbestos exposure and may include pleural thickening, the formation of calcium deposits in the pleura (plaques), and an abnormal accumulation of fluid between the membranes (pleural effusion). Pleural effusion itself is benign and doesn't increase your risk of asbestosis or malignant mesothelioma.
- Other cancer. People exposed to asbestos at an early age, for a long period of time or at high levels are at increased risk of malignant mesothelioma. Diagnosis and treatment of this cancer is often difficult. Malignant mesothelioma takes many years to develop. Most people with this condition were first exposed to asbestos at least 20 years — and sometimes as long as 50 years - prior to their diagnosis. While asbestos exposure is the primary risk factor for malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis itself doesn't increase your risk of this cancer, nor does malignant mesothelioma increase your risk of asbestosis.
References
- O'Reilly KM. Asbestos-related lung disease. American Family Physician. 2007;75:683.
- Cowie, RL, et al. Asbestos-related fibrosis of the lungs (asbestosis). In:
- Mason, RJ, et al. Murray & Nadel's Textbook of Respiratory Medicine 4th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: W.B. Saunders; 2005:1748.
- Asbestos-related disorders. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec05/ch057/ch057c.html. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Asbestos exposure: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/asbestos. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- What are the risk factors for malignant mesothelioma? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_What_are_the_risk_factors_for_malignant_mesothelioma_29.asp. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Asbestos exposure. Family Practice Notebook. http://www.fpnotebook.com/Lung/Asbestos/AsbstsExpsr.htm. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Asbestos: General information. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/asbestos/health_effects/index.html. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Rosenow EC (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Nov. 23, 2008.
