Asbestos and the Lung

Key points

• Asbestos and the lung Asbestos can cause a variety of lung disease from benign pleural plaques to mesothelioma. Pleural plaques Pleural plaques are benign and do not undergo malignant change.
• progressive shortness-of-breath
• pleural effusion Patients are usually offered palliative chemotherapy and there is also a limited role for surgery and radiotherapy. Unfortunately the prognosis is very poor, with a median survival from diagnosis of 8-14 months.