Mesothelioma and Asbestos

The Types of Mesothelioma

March 6, 2010

Pleural Mesothelioma

The Pleural Mesothelioma affects the chest and the lungs. It mostly starts to develop in the chest cavity and may also directly affect the lungs. Pleural mesothelioma is difficult to detect and therefore hard to diagnose timely. In the early stages of the illness, the symptoms are frequently rather mild. Persistent pain in the chest along with fever and weight loss is usually the occurrences reported by patients. Less frequently we see other symptoms that are more of severe nature and may include problems with breathing, which is due to accumulated fluid in the chest.
During a CT scan it can be assessed how far the diseases has progressed. Blood test that usually help to gather further data in order to make a diagnosis for a variety of cancers do not help in the diagnosis of Mesothelioma. Or in other words a reliable test is yet to be developed. A pleural mesothelioma diagnosis comes typically with a poor outlook on survival. Usually, a patient does live longer than seventeen months after he has been diagnosed. Only 8% will live between three to five years.

Pericardial Mesothelioma

Pericardial mesothelioma affects the heart of the patient and is the least frequently seen form of this kind of cancer. As the name suggests, pericardial mesothelioma involves primarily the heart. To be more specific, this form of mesothelioma invades the so called pericardium which is - in simplistic terms - a sac the heart is embedded in. As the disease continues to progress, the heart will be deprived of its ability to pump sufficient amounts of oxygen throughout the body which directly affects the overall health of the patient rapidly.
The symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma resemble those we typically see in patients suffering from a heart attack and may include severe nausea, excruciating chest pain and shortness of breath.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer that starts to grow in the abdomen and typically spreads further to other organs located in the abdomen, including the bowel, liver and spleen. The most prominent symptom is severe abdominal pain.
Other seen symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma are vomiting, swollen feet, fever and difficulties with regular bowel movements.
Unfortunately, the prognosis and survival rate for patients diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma is also very poor and on average we see patients not living any longer than 10 months after the onset of the aforementioned symptoms.

Malignant Mesothelioma

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare kind of cancer. But as a matter of fact, of all asbestos induced diseases, this is by far the most serious one. Again, the illness might lay dormant for many years which make the detection and diagnosis very difficult. As a result, more often than not patients will have only very limited treatment options available to them by the time a conclusive diagnosis can be made. Malignant mesothelioma can be exclusively linked to the inhalation or ingestion of microscopically small and toxic asbestos particles that linger in the air.

Benign Mesothelioma

Benign mesothelioma means that the disease is not malignant. Further to that, it is also rather rare. However, early detection is very difficult, too.

Posted by Tony Ulrich. Posted In : Mesothelioma Patient Info

The Symptoms of Asbestosis, diagnosis and treatments

March 4, 2010

Asbestosis is a pulmonary disease that is caused by exposure to asbestos. The illness can be present due to extended exposure or from a single incident. The symptoms for asbestosis usually don’t appear until years later when upper respiratory symptoms start to appear and gets more severe over time.

Causes of Asbestosis

When Asbestos fibers are inhaled into the lungs it causes inflammation and irritation and over time scar tissue is formed and this scar tissue starts to replace the healthy...

Mesothelioma and Asbestos

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