asbestos symptoms

is all pleural thickening ,rounded atelectosis and bullae concrete proof of asbesto exposure? had 3 large pneumathorax since worked with asbestos 13 yrs ago....

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!
Pleural thickening, atelectasis, and bullae can be traced back to asbestosis but whether they are concrete proof or not depends on a lot of other factors like condition of your lungs, exposure to smoking—active or passive, other diseases like recurrent upper respiratory tract infections etc. Also, if you were exposed to asbestos 13 years back, and it was a single exposure, then chances of pneumthorax (which developed later) being related to asbestos are less. It all depends on how long was the exposure, and when your symptoms started. Pneumothorax can also be due to COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, and chronic cough. It is very difficult to give you a concrete answer on net. Please discuss this with your treating specialist.
Take care!