Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer

Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer are both serious illnesses, but they are not the same. Pleural mesothelioma – sometimes called “asbestos lung cancer” – is really not a form of lung cancer because it does not develop in the tissue of the lungs. Instead, it is a cancer of the lining that surrounds the lung (the “pleura”).

Mesothelioma is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. It is considered a “signature disease” for asbestos exposure, which means that, if you have mesothelioma, it can be assumed that you had exposure to asbestos at some point in your life. Smoking does not cause mesothelioma. Lung cancer can be caused by asbestos exposure; it can also be caused by smoking. In fact, someone who smokes and was exposed to asbestos has a much higher risk of getting lung cancer. See Asbestos and Smoking.

Asbestos and Smoking
Asbestos exposure and smoking have something in common: they are bad news for your body, especially your lungs, and they are even worse when they happen together. If you have an asbestos-related disease, quitting smoking can help slow the progression of your disease, make is easier for you to breath, improve blood flow, and decrease stress on your heart. But quitting smoking is also important to cut your risk of getting cancer in the future, whether you are sick today or not.

You probably know that we are all exposed to things that can cause cancer. What you may not know is that sometimes combinations of exposures are more dangerous than the sum of the individual exposures. For example, it is generally accepted that asbestos exposure can make someone 5 times more likely to get lung cancer. Smokers are approximately 10 times more likely to get lung cancer. But if you are a smoker and were also exposed to asbestos, your risk is not 15 times higher—it’s about 50 times higher! Instead of adding the increased risks created by asbestos and smoking, the risks are multiplied when they occur in the same person. This is called a synergistic effect.

There is nothing that can be done about the increased risk of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. The asbestos fibers stay inside the body even when you are no longer exposed to asbestos. But something can be done about the risk of cancer caused by smoking. According to the American Lung Association, if you quit smoking today, in ten years your increased risk of lung cancer attributable to smoking would be half that of a continuing smoker. Your risk of heart disease, stroke and several other cancers would also decrease substantially.