Mesothelioma Symptoms

Types of Mesothelioma Symptoms

Mesothelioma symptoms are from a type of cancer that is caused as a result of asbestos exposure. While almost everyone in the world has been exposed to some form of asbestos, workers in the ship building, construction and automotive industries are at higher risk of exposure to asbestos. The most common form of mesothelioma is pleural mesothelioma. The other form is abdominal or peritoneal mesothelioma.

Asbestos Use and Mesothelioma Symptoms

Asbestos has been mined in the United States since the 1800s. After World War II, asbestos use increased substantially and was used in everything from textiles to playgrounds to construction insulation. Later, it was discovered that exposure to asbestos substantially increased the risk for development of mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma Risk Factors

Individuals in the construction industry are at particular risk for mesothelioma symptoms because of the extensive use of asbestos in this industry. Asbestos was used in insulation materials, ceiling tiles and many other construction materials. Demolition of old buildings or walls in preparation for remodeling also raises asbestos fibers in the air, leaving them on clothing, in the hair and on the skin.

Firefighters are also at extreme risk for the development of mesothelioma due to their exposure to burning asbestos fibers. Firefighters and other first responders to the September 11, 2001 tragedy in New York City have shown a substantial and significant increase in the rates of mesothelioma compared to the general public.

Early Mesothelioma Symptoms

Mesothelioma symptoms often take years to develop. For many people, symptoms may not begin to appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure. However, for others, like the 9/11 responders, early symptoms may begin to appear within a few years of exposure.

Early symptoms of pleural mesothelioma may be a persistent cough and shortness of breath. Chest pain may also be a persistent symptom.

Abdominal mesothelioma symptoms include swelling or pain in the abdomen, unexplained weight changes, diarrhea, constipation, lumps or masses in the abdomen, anemia and swelling of the feet or ankles.

Other symptoms for both types of mesothelioma include fevers, sweating, night sweats or unexplained weight loss.

Diagnosis of Mesothelioma Symptoms

Diagnosis of mesothelioma is made by a thorough examination by a doctor and several imaging tests. The doctor will look for symptoms consistent with the illness and also take a thorough background history, including a work history, looking for potential exposure factors.

Imaging tests for mesothelioma include x-rays, CT scans and ultrasound.

Finally, a biopsy of the pleura or peritoneal tissue may be taken to determine the presence of cancer cells.

Treatment of Asbestos Related Mesothelioma

While there is no cure for mesothelioma, treatment of mesothelioma symptoms includes pain management, chemotherapy and radiation. Because it is very common for mesothelioma to be diagnosed late in the illness, it is not unusual for patients to need to undergo radiation therapy to shrink tumors before being able to undergo surgery to remove the tumor.

For other patients, however, surgical removal of tumors may not be an option, and radiation and chemotherapy, along with pain management are the only options.

Asbestos Exposure

During most of the 20th century, many people had asbestos exposure as asbestos was widely used in a variety of industries and products. This mineral fiber had actually been utilized for centuries, but its high heat resistance and tensile strength made it quite popular as the industrial world developed. The construction and shipbuilding industries, for example, were able to make extensive use of asbestos.

Asbestos is a group of naturally-occurring, fibrous minerals. These minerals are mined in hundreds of countries around the world. This makes them easy to get and very inexpensive.

Asbestos is comprised of thin, fibers that can easily break apart into smaller fibers when they are disturbed. These loose fibers can become airborne and be unknowingly inhaled by anyone in the area. In time, the amount of asbestos in the body builds up. This creates a dangerous scarring effect that leads to the development of several dangerous diseases, especially mesothelioma cancer.

Asbestos minerals are also very resistant to high heat, have low conductivity and high tensile strength. This makes the mineral perfect for heat resistant products and insulation. Unfortunately, these are exactly the same qualities that have made it used so widely in the construction industry.

In a typical American home you would have asbestos exposure from asbestos wrapped heating and cooling pipes, ceiling coverings and tiles, and roof tiles. Used everywhere in buildings and ships, it was used as a general purpose insulator for heating and cooling systems.

Asbestos Exposure Industries

Individuals who worked for industries in which asbestos was used for years were probably heavily exposed to asbestos fibers. Due to this, these individuals are at the highest risk of developing dangerous asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma. People who were involved in construction, shipbuilding, metalworking, and mining before the establishment of asbestos regulation laws would have seen the largest levels of asbestos exposure.

Asbestos Exposure Effects

Even at the beginning of the 20th century, it became obvious that asbestos posed serious health risks. These devastating effects vastly outweighed the benefits of asbestos use, and by the later 1970's, this mineral was significantly removed from industrial processes. However, it was too late as millions of people had already been exposed to asbestos and were at risk of developing mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other devastating illnesses.

Further research today indicates that many family members of industrial workers also had asbestos exposure from doing household chores such as laundry and being in close contact with the workers.

Mesothelioma Treatment

Mesothelioma Treatment: Physician Therapies

There are a couple of different mesothelioma treatment options that are available to people that have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, including conventional therapies, radiotherapy or radiation therapy and also chemotherapy.

Treatment of malignant forms of mesothelioma through conventional therapies combined with chemotherapy or radiation is especially successful in stage I and stage II cancers and has proven to be successful approximately 74.6 % of the time in extending the life of the patient by five years or more.

This is a period that is known as remission. The percentage may decrease or increase based on the date of discovery of the mesothelioma cancer as well as the stage of the development of the malignant mesothelioma cancer.

The course or path that the physician decides to take when it comes to mesothelioma treatment is going to be determined primarily by what stage of development the cancer is currently in at the point of diagnosis.

This is unlike the traditional treatment for cancer such as cancer surgery by itself, because surgery on its own has only proven itself to be 16.3 percent likely to extend the lifespan of the patient by five years or more.

The clinical behavior of the cancer's malignancy is affected by a number of different factors, including the continuous surface of the mesothelial pleural cavity which tends to favor local metastasis rather than exfoliating of cells, as well as invasion to the underlying tissues as well as other organs within the lining of the lungs or the pleural cavity, and also the extremely long period of latency that exists between the exposure to asbestos and the development of mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma Treatment Options

Some of the mesothelioma treatment options that are available and commonly turned to for treating this disease including radiation therapy or radiotherapy, chemotherapy and also surgery.

Surgery has proven to be disappointing by itself, but it can be successful when used in conjunction with other therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy for example. The most common surgeries involve removing the lining of the chest.

Radiation therapy is common for patients who have the disease on a localized basis, especially those who can receive radiation therapy as a consolidative treatment following a radical surgery like the removal of the chest lining.

Mesothelioma tends to be resistant to radiation therapy when used by itself, but in conjunction with chemotherapy and surgery, radiotherapy can be extremely effective. Delivering both radiation therapy and chemotherapy following surgery has allowed for many patients to extend their survival rates long beyond 5 years following diagnosis and treatment.

Chemotherapy As A Mesothelioma Treatment

Chemotherapy is the only known treatment for mesothelioma that has been proven to improve survival rates on its own rather than in conjunction with radiotherapy and surgery.

Although chemotherapy has its own side effects to deal with, it has proven itself capable of helping to improve the quality of life of people who are dealing with mesothelioma, making it one of the best mesothelioma treatment options.

Still, chemotherapy as a treatment option for mesothelioma is actually best when combined with surgery and radiation therapy and other types of therapies such as gene therapy and immunotherapy. A combined approach is always the best approach to take in terms of mesothelioma treatment.

Mesothelioma Types

Common Mesothelioma Types

There are a number of different mesothelioma types, but the most common form of this disease is the one that affects the lining of the lungs, a type of mesothelioma that is known as pleural mesothelioma.

There are other mesothelioma types that you should be aware of, including pericardial mesothelioma, affecting the heart's lining, as well as peritoneal mesothelioma, affecting the abdomen's lining.

Mesothelioma is a cancer that is capable of affecting the serous membranes, membranes that are responsible for surrounding all of the major organs in the body's midsection including the heart, the lungs and the abdominal cavity.

Different organs are capable of being affected similarly by mesothelioma because the serious membranes can be found in so many different places within the body.

Despite what many people have been led to believe, mesothelioma is not actually a form of primary lung cancer, meaning that it does not originate within the lungs.

Instead, mesothelioma of the lungs begins in the serous membranes which exist within the lining that surrounds the lungs as well as the lining surrounding other organs in the chest and abdomen. However, numerous mesothelioma types are capable of spreading to the actual lungs, making mesothelioma a secondary lung cancer.

Mesothelioma is also regularly known as asbestos lung cancer although this is not quite correct. Mesothelioma never originates in the lungs. Asbestosis is a type of disease of the lung that is regularly confused with mesothelioma cancer.

Main Mesothelioma Types

Pleural Mesothelioma

The most popular of the mesothelioma types is pleural mesothelioma, which represents approximately 75 percent of all cases of mesothelioma. This is a disease that can grow quickly, enlarging the pleural space by causing it to fill up with fluid.

This fluid goes on to lead to discomfort and even pain, and these are the symptoms that most commonly lead to a diagnosis. It is believed that pleural mesothelioma is first caused when fibrous materials such as asbestos are inhaled. These fibers become lodged in the pleural space and cause damage to the sensitive tissue layer over time, causing cancer.

Pericardial Mesothelioma

The rarest of all mesothelioma types is Pericardial mesothelioma, the type of mesothelioma that affects the heart's lining, a tissue known as the pericardium. Less than 10 percent of all cases of mesothelioma are related to the pericardial lining of the heart.

The rapid growth of cancerous tumors causes an expansion of the tissue, allowing fluid to accumulate. Although it is unknown how the asbestos fibers can enter into the tissue layers surrounding your heart, they are still regarded as the cause for pericardial mesothelioma.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma

The final of the main three mesothelioma types is peritoneal mesothelioma, which is mesothelioma of the abdominal cavity. The peritoneum is the serous membrane that surrounds the abdomen.

Between 10 % and 20 % of all mesothelioma cases are peritoneal mesothelioma cases. Peritoneal mesothelioma may also occur in the male's testicles because the scrotum's covering layer is an out pouching of the abdomen's peritoneum.