This is a sign of decreased oxygen reaching the blood. Because these are vague symptoms, it is easy for doctors to blame them on other causes instead of asbestos exposure. These may be the only symptoms as the disease progresses, so early diagnosis is important. The most serious hazard of exposure to asbestos is cancer, and it takes less exposure to asbestos to cause cancer than to cause asbestosis. In addition, asbestos also causes cancer of the throat, stomach, esophagus, and bowel.
Lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure is the same kind of cancer as that caused by smoking.
It is hard to diagnose early, it spreads rapidly, and can rarely be cured. Mesothelioma, cancer of the lining of the chest and the abdominal cavities, is an extremely rare kind of cancer and is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. This cancer is incurable and there is no treatment. Gastrointestinal cancer is a general term for several different cancers of the digestive system. It includes cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, and rectum.