Exposure to asbestos is dangerous to a person's health.
Although the effects will not be apparent for many years, the development of the disease is already going on inside the body and would show itself after two decades or more has passed.
Asbestos fibers will lodge on the linings that cover the vital organs of the body, such as the lungs, heart or the abdomen.
This will cause cells to undergo changes and later on become tumors that eventually develop into cancer mesothelioma, which is incurable.
These cancerous cells can then metastasize to other organs of the body causing different signs and symptoms of the disease.
The patient would usually seek consult to his doctor complaining of cough, chest wall pain, fever, fatigue, difficulty of breathing, and weight loss.
Because these symptoms also point to other diseases like tuberculosis and other types of lung cancer, it is important for the patient to give his doctor a complete history of his illness and state if he had been exposed to asbestos during the early years.
From there, physical examination and various laboratories would be taken and a biopsy would be performed.
After which he could diagnose this patient with cancer mesothelioma and recommend proper treatment and/or palliative therapy.
Having been diagnosed with cancer mesothelioma, patients can undergo chemotherapy alone or radiation therapy alone or a combination of both treatments.
If the cancer has been caught in the early stage with no signs of metastases and the patient has no concurrent diseases, there is a chance that radiation and chemotherapy could prove successful and extend his life for another five years.
But if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body and been found in the later stage of the disease, radiation could be given as a palliative treatment to relieve patient's pains and suffering caused by his cancer.