lung cancer and mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is defined
Many people ask this question, to which the answer is simple and complex. The simple answer is that the Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium, the lining or membrane around an organ, such as lung, abdomen or heart. The mesothelium has names based on specific body wraps. The mesothelial lining around the lungs called the pleura, and has two layers that slide over a layer of liquid. The lines of the lining of the lung tissue and lines the outer layer of the chest wall. The layer of lubricating fluid between the two layers, allowing the lungs expand and contract as the pleural layers can slide against each other, without friction.
Lung cancer
The Lung cancer is the lung tissue and airways, which lies entirely within the pleural lining and does not involve the pleura. When other organs are involved the mesothelial lining has other names, such as the peritoneum, the mesothelial lining of the peritoneum (abdominal cavity) and pericardium for coating around heart.
Mesothelioma Causes
Mesothelioma is caused by inhaling asbestos fibers in most cases making their way through the soft tissues of the lung to the mesothelial lining (pleura) and lodge in the membrane. It can take as long as 50 years for the fibers to cause symptoms of cancer, but some cases are diagnosed in only 10 or 20. Obviously, development is a slow process, and whose cause is not always easy to identify because of the length of time between exposure and symptoms.
Mesothelioma Exposure
Most people who develop mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos particles in the workplace, that is ingested or inhaled. Family members were exposed to clothing, hair or skin of the workers who came home covered with fibers. Women who contact these clothes, especially those who brought them out before washing, or family members who greeted and hugged workers before I had the opportunity to bathe too were exposed to the fibers.
In addition, members of the community were often exposed to the fibers as the dust of the mines or processing plants that used asbestos fibers released into the air, which in turn can rain out nearby communities.
Asbestos lung cancer
As strange as mesothelioma is asbestos lung cancer rarer still. If the results of lung cancer pleural mesothelioma, it is usually because the cancer has metastasized and spread throughout the body. Cancer asbestos lung usually develops from fibers that are presented in the lining of the airways, the bronchioles (small airways) or alveoli, terminal sacs where oxygen enters the bloodstream. Asbestos fibers are massaged by the soft lung tissue and rarely staying there. Instead, they lodge in the lining of the lungs, where they cause a chronic irritation in the wall instead of in the lung tissue itself. Those who lodge in the lung tissue usually remain trapped by the scar tissue and asbestosis, a disease of restrictive fibrosis of the lungs.
About the Author:
If you have been exposed to asbestos, or received a diagnosis of mesothelioma, please visit the website of Parker, Dumler & Kiely, LLP, the experienced mesothelioma lawyers in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What is the Difference Between Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma?
Asbestos Exposure Causes Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma- Video
