Mesothelioma cancer, which is classified into three according to the area infected by each of these, is caused by asbestos particles inhaled mostly at workplaces. The three types are the pleural mesothelioma (that affects the mesothelium around the lung cavities), the peritoneal (found in the lining of the abdomen) and the pericardial (which attacks the heart cavities). The former, which attacks the lining of the lungs, is also called asbestos lung mesothelioma because it affects the lung cavities and is caused by asbestos.
The pleural mesothelioma is definitely life-threatening. The infection sometimes spreads all along the lungs forcing the removal of a lung. Inhaled fibers of asbestos settle down in the pleural linings and causes harmful cell activity. The cells divide without order resulting in pleural effusion and thickening of the layer. This prevents easy motion of the lungs and cause breathing problems etc. The time taken for the infection to reach this proportion ranges between several years to decades after exposure to asbestos.
Diagnosing pleural mesothelioma sometimes gets difficult if the doctor handling the case is not adept in the subject. Many symptoms resulting from this cancer are similar to those of many other diseases like pneumonia.
Some mesothelioma cases are detected when a patient undergoes checkups for lesser evils like fever, fatigue etc. A knowledgeable physician would not hesitate to ask for the health and work history of such patients before proceeding to imaging tests, lung tests or biopsy.
The most common symptoms of asbestos lung mesothelioma is shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue at the least exertion, loss of body weight for no assumable reason, fever, night sweat etc. Some patients may show only two or three of these while some others would remain totally free of symptoms. This character of the cancer has often resulted in failure to detect or wrong diagnosis which eventually confounds the situation. If the infection is only at the initial stages, doctors prefer conventional treatments like surgery. If required, additional therapies like chemotherapy to preempt the spread of the cancer further and radiation therapy to remove the remnants of cancer through high energy or particle beams are also resorted to.
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