Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Mesothelioma and asbestos, those two words can not be separated each other. People even call the disease as mesothelioma asbestos. Although it is a serious cancer, asbestos is the main trigger of the condition.

This product is a harmful fiber. Asbestos are formed into small pieces of materials and remain airborne for specific periods of time. Anyone who inhales asbestos, it is vulnerable to serious medical conditions such as mesothelioma cancer, asbestosis, and lung cancer.

Mesothelioma is connected to asbestos. The mesothelium cells are responsible to protect the vital organs such as hearth, lungs, and stomach inside the body. When it is affected by asbestos, it will lead to mesothelioma disaster. Mesothelioma is generally classified to 3 types: peritoneal mesothelioma, pericardial mesothelioma, and pleural mesothelioma.

The symptoms involving in the diseases are hard breathing, dramatic weight loss, coughing, chest pain, weakened musces, hoarseness, constipations, and etc. The most common form of meothelioma is pleural mesothelioma or cancers that affect the lungs. About 2 from 3 patients are suffering from pleural mesothelioma. It is all caused by exposure to asbestos for long period of time.

Defenition Of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma , more precisely malignant mesothelioma , is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium . It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos .
Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart ),or the tunica vaginalis (a sac that surrounds the testis).
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. It has also been suggested that washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos can put a person at risk for developing mesothelioma. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking , but smoking greatly increases the risk of other asbestos-induced cancers.  Those who have been exposed to asbestos have collected damages for asbestos-related disease, including mesothelioma. Compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in law practices regarding mesothelioma (see asbestos and the law ).
The symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall ) or chest wall pain , and general symptoms such as weight loss . The diagnosis may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan , and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be used to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space (called pleurodesis ), which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with chemotherapy , radiation therapy or sometimes surgery , the disease carries a poor prognosis . Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.