What is mesothelioma? Mesothelioma or often called a malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of the cancers that develop from changing cells that comes from the mesothelium, a protective layers that includes many of the organs. This is typically cause by exposure to asbestos.
Most general anatomical sites for developing mesothelioma pleura (outer layers of the lungs and internal chest wall), but can also arise in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity) and pericardium (sac surrounding the heart) or tunica vaginalis (the sac that surrounds the testis).
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked in jobs where they inhaled the asbestos, or affected by the asbestos dust and the fiber in another way. It also has been suggest that washing clothes of family members who work with asbestos are increasing their risk for developing mesothelioma. Unlike lung cancer, there is apparently no association between mesothelioma and smoking tobacco, but smoking greatly increases the risk of other asbestos-caused cancer. Some people exposed to asbestos have collected damages for asbestos-related diseases, including the mesothelioma. The compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits class action is an important issue in the legal practice of mesothelioma (see asbestos and the law).
Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and chest wall) or chest wall pain, and constitutional signs such as weight loss cannot be explain. Diagnosis predictable with chest X-ray and CT scan, but it should authenticate pathologically, either by serous effusion cytology or with biopsy (to remove a sample of suspicious tissue) and the microscopic examinations. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera to chest) can be used to get the biopsy material, and enables the introduction of substances such as talc to remove the pleural space (is called pleurodesis procedure), to preventing more fluid from collecting and pressing on the lung. Although treatments by chemotherapy, the radiation therapies or occasionally surgery, the disease carrying a poor prognosis. The research about the screening tests for early detection of mesothelioma is in progress.
Thus a short description of this form of cancer, about mesothelioma.
