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Mesothelioma Latency Period

When do mesothelioma symptoms appear?

The latency period for a disease is the time that typically elapses between exposure to the agent that causes the disease and the development of symptoms. For example, you breathe in cold germs when someone in your vicinity sneezes and within a week you come down with a cold.

Malignant mesothelioma has a very long latency period. Symptoms of mesothelioma may not develop until decades after an exposure to asbestos.

Asbestos fibers rarely cause symptoms when they enter the lungs. However, because of their shapes, they are very tenacious. They embed themselves in the lungs and are difficult or impossible to expel. They remain dormant for many years, finally creating the inflammation and fluid build-up that are recognized as mesothelioma symptoms.

Variations in the mesothelioma latency period

The mesothelioma latency period is typically 30 to 40 years, but mesothelioma symptoms sometimes appear earlier than 10 years or more than 60 years after a person was exposed to asbestos. Several factors may influence average latency for mesothelioma:

  • Level of exposure. People exposed to the most asbestos in their jobs may experience a shorter latency period. Workers in the insulation industries and in shipyards—who have the largest amounts of asbestos in their lungs when they are biopsied—often develop mesothelioma symptoms relatively quickly.
  • World Trade Center 9/11 exposure. There are indications that if you are exposed to extremely high levels of asbestos for a short period of time, your lungs may be so damaged that you will develop mesothelioma faster than someone who was exposed to lower levels of asbestos for many years. Mesothelioma-like symptoms are already being seen in rescue and recovery workers who spent time at the World Trade Center site following the 9/11 disaster.  The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences stated as early as 2004 that “Future risk of mesothelioma may be increased, particularly among workers and volunteers.”

The collapse of the World Trade Center towers released tons of asbestos into the air instantaneously. At least one person who served at the site developed mesothelioma symptoms within just two years and died less than five years after the initial tragedy.

  • Other factors. The mesothelioma latency period also seems to depend upon where it appears. Peritoneal mesothelioma—which occurs in the lining of the heart— usually has a shorter latency period than pleural mesothelioma—which occurs in the lining of the lungs.

Effect of mesothelioma latency period on prognosis

The length of the mesothelioma latency period may contribute to the poor prognosis given to most patients when they are diagnosed. Mesothelioma symptoms do not appear for a long time and people do not connect them to having been exposed to asbestos in the distant past—so it is usually already too late for effective treatment. If you were exposed to asbestos, tell your doctor about it and ask if you should be monitored for signs of the disease.