What is Mesothelioma ?

The cancerous disease which affects the mesothelial cells of the outer lining which protects organs such as the heart, stomach and lungs and which is called mesothelium is known as Mesothelioma.

The only cause of this disease is the unprotected and regular contact with asbestos. This disease is hard to diagnose because the symptoms only make their appearance after several years and its treatment is still being studied; so far, the currently used treatments as too poor for this type of cancer.

Those who have entered in contact with asbestos over the past 30 to 50 years are at risk; in other words, men between the ages of 60 and 70 are those who might have the disease, because they’re the ones who worked with this material, when there was no protection; that way, the workers were repeatedly endangered by the asbestos’s fibres and dust, which affected the mesothelium cells. Many of those workers discovered that they are carriers of this type of cancer at 30 to 50 years later, because of the fact that the disease needs decades to fully develop and manifest. These men are now lodging million dollar lawsuits against the companies that actually are aware of the situation.

There are also those who have had regular contact with an individual who was working with asbestos, since their skin, clothes and hair regularly absorbed the dust and fibres.

The surrounding tissue of the lungs along with the lungs are the organs which are most affected; a variation of this cancer, that affects the lining of the lungs is called Pleural Mesothelioma and its symptoms consist of swallowing and breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, coughing, weight loss and even fever. Another area affected by this disease is the abdomen; this variation is known as Peritoneal Mesothelioma and its symptoms include loss of appetite which leads to weight loss, nausea, fever, pain in the stomach area and bowel obstruction. The third variation is the Pericardial Mesothelioma; as it name says, it affects the heart and its surrounding tissue and its symptoms can be: breathing difficulties, persistent coughing, and palpitations.

The doctor should know if the patient has worked with asbestos in the past, so that the diagnosis would be precise, since the symptoms of this cancer disease are alike to other more well-known diseases.

The existent treatments for mesothelioma aren’t very effective, especially if the patient’s cancer is in its later stages. The faster the disease is diagnosed and treated, the bigger is the chance of success. The current treatments are: radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy and palliative therapy. There are multiple researches on mesothelioma conducted by the National Institute of Cancer along with other organizations and sponsors and clinical trials are tried out in order to find a treatment that will be effective even if the cancer is in its later stages.