Mesothelioma is a form of cancer caused due to exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma mainly affects the mesothelium which is a protective lining covering all internal organs of the body. Mostly, it originates in the pleura, which is the between the outer part of the lungs & the chest cavity. Mesothelioma may also attack in or the lining of abdominal cavity (peritoneum) or the sac which surrounds heart (that is, pericardium).

It has been observed that person having Mesothelioma must have worked on a job where he may have inhaled asbestos particulates, or he might have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in any other way. It might be caused just by washing cloths of some family member handling asbestos regularly. But, unlike lung and oral cancer, there exists no link between mesothelioma & smoking. It is an unbelievable fact that an exposure of 1 or 2 months could result in mesothelioma 30 or 40 yrs later and for some, as much as seventy years later. People exposed in the 1960s and '70s are now diagnosed of mesothelioma due to the long latency of asbestos deposit.

On suffering from Mesothelioma, patient may have breathlessness, slight pain in the chest and cough, while peritoneal mesothelioma causes patient to lose weight and pain in the abdomen. Peritoneal mesothelioma causes obstruction in bowel-area, abnormal blood clotting, anemia, and may also cause fever. In case the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it may cause pain, troublesome swallowing, or swelling in neck and face. Mesothelioma can only be diagnosed from biopsy by pathological examination If further examination is warranted, more tests may be done. Mesothelioma has three kinds of treatments. First one involves surgery, that is, to take out the cancer. Secondly, the deadly radiation therapy to kill cancer causing cells. The third is the chemotherapy, in which drugs are inserted in body to fight cancer.


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