Even decades after it was banned in the United States, asbestos continues to be implicated in new diagnoses of lung cancer. And despite the passage of time since exposure, victims of asbestos lung cancer may still be able to sue for compensation.

Asbestos and Lung Cancer

Asbestos
is a mineral that occurs naturally in the earth. It has certain properties, such as heat resistance, that make it useful in a multitude of industrial applications. Asbestos had widespread industrial applications in the United States through the mid-20th century.

Shipyards and the U.S. military are particularly notorious for having exposed many of their personnel to asbestos. Other workers that may have been exposed to asbestos include auto mechanics, construction workers, textile workers, insulation handlers, roofers, toll collectors, plumbers, and more. It was widely used in these industries before gaining its reputation as a human carcinogen.

Asbestos has a tendency to shed microscopic fibers that become airborne. If these fibers are inhaled, they can lodge themselves in the lungs and eventually lead to the development of lung cancer.

Asbestos lung cancer takes a very long time to develop. Its latency period, or the period of time between initial exposure and manifestation, is at least 10 years. Most cases take 30 to 35 years to develop.

Because asbestos lung cancer takes so long to develop, it tends to go undetected until it has significantly advanced. Symptoms, when they finally begin to manifest, include a chronic cough or change in an already-existing chronic cough, sometimes with expulsion of blood or blood-streaked sputum. Other common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, chest pain, weight loss, or loss of appetite.

Diagnosis of lung cancer is typically done initially via X-ray or CT scan and confirmed by biopsy. Treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. Since asbestos lung cancer can be extremely destructive and often terminal, palliative care such as oxygen therapy and pain medication are often necessary.

Prognosis for asbestos lung cancer is poor, and the survival rate is very low. More advanced cases have a life expectancy averaging six months, which may be prolonged with treatment. In cases of well-established lung cancer, the five-year survival rate is less than 1 percent. But where non-small cell cancer is detected and treated early, the five-year survival rate goes as high as 70 percent.

Asbestos lung cancer is actually fairly rare, accounting for only 4 percent of lung cancer cases. The vast majority of lung cancer cases, as many as 90 percent of them, can be attributed to smoking. However, research shows that smoking may increase the likelihood of asbestos lung cancer by inhibiting the lungs’ ability to expel asbestos fibers.

Medical science has a set of criteria, called the Helsinki Criteria, used to determine whether a given case of lung cancer is related to asbestos exposure. These criteria consider mainly the duration and concentration of exposure. Under the Helsinki Criteria, attribution of a given case of lung cancer to asbestos generally requires several years of prolonged exposure. So the persons most at risk are workers whose careers brought them into contact with asbestos.

Asbestos Litigation

Because so many cases of asbestos lung cancer are related to asbestos exposure during employment, asbestos lawsuits have allowed many such victims to get compensation from their former employers and the manufacturers of asbestos. Patients with asbestos lung cancer who used to work in asbestos-related industries may be able to get compensation through their own asbestos lung cancer lawsuit, or they may be able to join an asbestos lung cancer class action lawsuit.