No. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer which affects the lining of the lung (the pleura) rather than the air passages in the lung itself which is a lung cancer.

There are a number of different types of lung cancer.

Usually lung cancers come from the cells which line the air passages leading into the lung, from the throat. These passages are known as the bronchial tree, and are made up of the main bronchi (which lead from the trachea into each lung) and these lead on to the much smaller bronchioles which run to the different parts of the lungs.

Lung cancers which come from the cells lining the bronchial tree are also known as bronchial carcinomas or carcinomas of the bronchus. There are several different sorts of carcinoma of the bronchus, but these are usually grouped as one of two main types, being either small-cell carcinomas of the bronchus or non-small cell carcinomas of the bronchus.

Carcinomas of the bronchus make up more than 95% of all lung cancers. Mesotheliomas develop in the lining membrane that surrounds the outside of the lung, in the chest, called the pleura. So mesotheliomas are on the outside surface of the lung, whilst the bronchial carcinomas are deep inside the lung.

Because they arise from the lining of the lung, pleural mesotheliomas are sometimes called a ‘lung cancer’ but they are very different from the bronchial carcinomas which are the usual type of lung cancer.

Mesotheliomas are uncommon cancers, although they are becoming more frequent. At the moment there are about 2000 new cases each year in the UK compared with nearly 38,000 new cases of lung cancer (bronchial carcinoma).