Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant cells develop the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. This is the most common area of the chest (the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart, the pericardium (Sac that surrounds the heart) or Tunica vaginalis.

Most people who develop mesothelioma worked in jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. It is also proposed that the family washing clothes, may be placed in a person who worked in the asbestos risk of developing mesothelioma. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking Significantly increases the risk of other asbestos-related cancer. Compensation via asbestos funds or mesothelioma cases is an important issue.

Symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. Diagnosis may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan, and confirmed by biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. Thoracoscopy (insert chest tube camera) can be used to take biopsies. This allows for substances such as talc, in order to wipe the pleural space (called pleurodesis), which prevents more fluid accumulation in the lungs and the press. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, the disease leads to poor prognosis. Science sõelumiskatseid about early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.