Mesolthelioma Information You Won\'t Find Elsewhere

Introduction

Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the tissue that surrounds and protects various organs in the body. This tissue is called the mesothelium and mesothelioma makes it become abnormal, divide without control, and invade and damage nearby organs. The most common form is pleural mesothelioma affects the lining bag the chest cavity and protects the lungs (the pleura). Other forms are peritoneum mesothelioma (which affects the abdominal cavity) and pericardium mesothelioma (affecting the lining around the heart). Tumors can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous), but are often malignant.

Causes

Mesothelioma is caused by inhaling asbestos, a fibrous carcinogenic. These fibers lodge in the lining of the lungs that affects the mesothelial cells. Sometimes they cause scarring of the lungs (called asbestosis) but this is not cancerous. They can, however, promote tumor growth between 20 and 50 years after inhaled (the average is 35 to 40 years). Asbestos fibers that are swallowed can reach the lining of the abdominal cavity, where they play a role in causing peritoneal mesothelioma.

It is usually the case that the longer or more intense the exposure to asbestos are more likely Mesothelioma is to occur. However, there are cases of people who Mesothelioma years after having worked with him for a few months. The families of asbestos workers are also at risk because it may have been exposed to asbestos fibers on the clothing of their loved ones.

The hazards of asbestos are well known, but this was not always the case. Before the 1970s asbestos was a main insulating material with little or no control over its use or handling. The resultant increase in cases of mesothelioma is a direct cause of these past practices.

Symptoms

Mesothelioma is often advanced before symptoms occur. This means that the prognosis is usually not very good, with the average survival time for all stages of malignant mesothelioma is about one year. Symptoms resemble pneumonia, cough, breathing difficulties and abdominal pain is common.

Treatments

Mesothelioma can be treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery, or a combination of all three.

Surgery
Extra pleural pneumonectomy is where the whole lung and part of the lining of the chest, diaphragm, and some or all of the sac surrounding the heart was removed.

The objectives of wide local excision to remove the cancer and a limited amount of healthy tissue surrounding the cancerous region.

Pleurectomy and decortication removes some of the covering of the lungs and the chest lining and the outer parts of the lungs.

Pleurodesis uses a blend of chemicals and / or drugs to create an intentional scar between the layers of the pleura. Post surgery, the space created by the scar must be drained using a catheter or tube into the chest, and then filled with a chemical that inhibits the accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity.

Radiotherapy
Radiation Therapy High energy uses X-rays to kill cancer cells.

In external radiation therapy machine delivers radiation in a stream directed to a particular body part.

Internal radiation therapy uses needles, seeds and catheters to place radioactive substance directly on or near the cancer.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to avoid targeting cancer cells to divide and thus prevent their growth.

About the Author:

Andy Bowen manages Mesothelioma ArticlePages a site dedicated to providing articles and information about the disease Mesothelioma.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Mesothelioma: a Brief Overview

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