Mesothelioma

What Exactly Is Mesothelioma ?

Mesothelioma the medical name for cancer of the lung or the abdomen lining, and is usually caused by exposure to asbestos.

Asbestos is a type of building material used in thermal insulation products and ceiling tiles. Asbestos usage peaked during the 1950s - 1970s, but during the late 1960s, concerns over the health consequences of asbestos exposure began to arise, thereby decreasing the amount of asbestos manufactured over the following two decades. But even though new measures where brought in to get rid of it, many schools and public buildings still contain asbestos.

Small asbestos fibers that enter the air do not evaporate and can remain suspended in the air for a long time. These fibers, when breathed into the body, are toxic. The people most at risk are :-

People working in factories that manufacture asbestos are likely to have a high exposure to asbestos and are most at risk of developing asbestosis or mesothelioma.

Family members of workers exposed to asbestos in the workplace are susceptible to exposure from asbestos dust brought home by the worker on his clothes or skin.

Those who live in the vicinity of an asbestos manufacturing plant are also at risk.

Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until between twenty and fifty years after exposure, which explains why so many new cases of this form of cancer are coming to light now. Many people who haven't been in contact with asbestos for decades, are now showing symptoms of this dreadful desease.

As with many forms of cancer, mesothelioma can spread rapidly. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, loss of weight, and chest pains. If it is diagnosed early enough, the tumor can be surgically removed, and with chemotherapy and radiation treatment, a full recovery is often possible.

However, in more advanced cases, cure is usually not possible. In such cases, chemotherapy and radiation treatment can be used alongside other pain relief treatments, to ease the symptoms. Where cure is not possible, the average survival time is between four and eighteen months, depending on the stage of the tumor and the general health of the patient.

I was prompted to write about mesothelioma because as a child I lived near a factory which produced asbestos, and I personally know families who have suffered due to this terrible desease.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a relatively uncommon form of mesothelioma cancer that accounts for less than a quarter of all mesothelioma cases. It is called Peritoneal because it appears as a tumor in the pertioneum membrane of the abdomen. Exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of this disease and usually symptoms do not occur until 20 to 40 years afterward. Unfortunately, due to a lack of effective treatments, malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is often fatal and patients who are afflicted by it will live on average less than a year from the time of their diagnosis.

When peritoneal mesothelioma does becomes active victims will typically experience abdominal pains, a loss of appetite, nausea, and swelling of the abdomen. Obstruction of the bowels or hindered breathing due to tumor growth are also possible symptoms.

Generally peritoneal mesothelioma is first detected by X-rays or CT scans conducted after a patient has complained of abdominal symptoms. After an abnormality is detected doctors will perform an analysis of the peritoneum. This procedure is known as peritoneoscopy. If an abnormality is verified, the doctor will perform a 'biopsy' or in laymen terms obtain a tissue sample for examination by a pathologist. The pathologist will than look at the tissue under a telescope and determine if mesothelioma is present.

Once mesothelioma is diagnosed, there are two general types of treatments; systemic and localized. Localized treatments are an attempt to eliminate the cancer by either surgery or radiotherapy and treat only the immediate area of the cancer. Systemic treatments, on the other hand, are designed to combat the cancer through out the whole body, and may be used either in earlier stages or late stages of the disease.

In the event peritoneal mesothelioma is detected early enough the peritoneum where the cancer is growing may in some instances be removed by a surgery called peritonectomy. Unfortunately, however, mesothelioma, because of its gradually developing symptoms, is usually detected in its more advanced stages, when surgery is a less viable option. Yet even when it is detected in its earliest development, a complete removal of the cancer is unlikely. Further, there is a high post surgery mortality rate for this operation (the 30 days following being the most difficult) and, because of this, many centers will not perform the surgery.

Regional chemotherapy, another form of localized treatment, is also an option that might be effective and may be sough both in early and late stages of the disease. By this method, anti-cancer drugs may be injected directly into the abdomen on a weekly or biweekly basis (depending on the type of drug used). In a method called adjuvant chemotherapy, regional chemotherapy may also be used directly following surgery in order to reduce the likelihood of the cancer returning once it has been removed. Generally speaking, when the cancer can not be entirely removed through surgery, chemotherapy is used through out the existence of the cancer in order to slow its development.

Because of its latent tendency, peritoneal mesothelioma is often diagnosed in its end stages when a person is too ill to handle intensive chemotherapy. In these cases, the goal of treatment is palliative or in other words designed primarily to remedy symptomatic problems such as pain, discomfort and weight loss. Often one source of pain and discomfort in late peritoneal mesothelioma is fluid build up inside the abdomen. A doctor may drain this fluid or peritoneal effusion through a method called abdominal paracentesis.