Smoking and its effect on mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to deadly asbestos fibers. Although this is a type of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs plural, is in fact lung cancer.

The prognosis for those afflicted with mesothelioma is poor. Due to the difficulty of detecting symptoms and long latency period, often mesothelioma is not diagnosed until it is too late. When an individual is exposed to asbestos fibers that lodge in the pleura of the lungs where it will create scar tissue. This scar tissue eventually turn cancerous and cause mesothelioma. Many people, even if only exposed for a short period of time to asbestos can contract this disease.

While smoking is a very fast to the lungs from damage, it is important to understand that smoking does not cause mesothelioma. However, smoking complicates a person's chances of contracting the disease. Smoking may not cause mesothelioma directly, but can cause other potentially fatal diseases like cancer, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asbestosis. Asbestosis is a form of mesothelioma, but help in the development of cancer.

If a patient is diagnosed with mesothelioma, it is vital to stop smoking immediately. The statistics around smoking are devastating. While smoking does not cause mesothelioma, which increases the likelihood of contracting lung cancer by 50% or even more! A patient who is a smoker is more likely to have a related lung disease a person has been exposed to mesothelioma for several years. This prior serves to show how serious and harmful effects of the consumption of snuff is found in the lungs.

Both lung cancer and mesothelioma caused by snuff are very serious because of its difficulty of detection. The severity and type of symptoms depend on many factors. For patients with mesothelioma, the amount of asbestos inhaled and the degree of exposure to determine side effects and severity of cancer. Lung cancer caused by smoking, the number of smokers per day and how long a person has smoked determine side effects and gravity.

A smoker who has been exposed to asbestos at any time in their lives should be tested immediately for both mesothelioma and other lung-related diseases, although symptoms are absent. Again, it is important to understand that mesothelioma and lung cancer are two different types of cancer, both operations with the lungs or surrounding organs.