In addition to mesothelioma and lung cancer, exposure to asbestos can cause other cancers and non-cancerous conditions.

Non-Cancerous Conditions Caused by Exposure to Asbestos

Asbestosis

Asbestosis is a scarring of the tiny air sacs on the inside of your lungs called alveoli.  Asbestosis, this scarring of the inside of your lung tissue can affect your ability to breathe and in some advanced cases can impair the flow of oxygen from your lungs to other vital organs in your body.

While asbestosis is not a cancer, it is a progressive disease, meaning asbestosis can get worse over time.

Like other asbestos diseases, asbestosis is a latent disease which can first appear many years after your exposure to asbestos stopped.

Unlike mesothelioma, asbestosis is a dose-related disease.  This means that the longer you were exposed to asbestos or the more intense your exposure to asbestos was in the past, the greater the likelihood of getting asbestosis.

It is not unusual for a person to be exposed to asbestos during the 1960s and 1970s, be healthy for twenty years and develop asbestosis twenty years after you were last exposed to asbestos.

People have contracted asbestosis in the following ways:

  1. Working directly with asbestos-containing products;
  2. Working in confined areas alongside other co-workers or outside contractors, who were applying or removing asbestos in your presence.

If you or a family member has been diagnosed with asbestosis, please give the experienced attorneys at Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford a call and we can help explain your legal rights and potential sources of recovery due to asbestosis.

Pleural Plaques

Pleural plaques are deposits of collagen fibers on the pleura, the outside lining of your lung. While pleural plaques are a marker or indicator that you had past asbestos exposure, they usually do not produce any respiratory symptoms.

It is not unusual for a person to be in good health, go for a routine chest x-ray and find out you have pleural plaques.

If you have pleural plaques, it is an objective sign that you had asbestos exposure in the past.

If you wish to discuss the legal implications of having pleural plaques, please feel free to call one of our experienced attorneys at Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford and we would be happy to speak with you.

Other Asbestos Cancers

While mesothelioma and lung cancer are the two-primary asbestos-related cancers, exposure to asbestos in the past has also been implicated in causing other cancers such as esophageal cancer; laryngeal cancer and in some cases, gastrointestinal cancer.

It is more difficult in some instances to prove that these other cancers were caused by asbestos exposure.

If you have been diagnosed with one of these “other cancers” and want to know what your legal rights are, please call Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford and we will be happy to speak with you and your family.

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