Health | Mesothelioma | Cancer

Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Staging

Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the doctor may need to assess the stage to help plan treatment. Mesothelioma is described as localized if the cancer is found only on the membrane surface where it originated. It is classified as advanced if it has spread beyond the original membrane surface to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, chest wall, or abdominal organs…

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Diagnosis

Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient’s medical history. A history of occupational exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for mesothelioma. A physical examination is performed, followed by chest X-ray and often lung function tests. The X-ray may reveal pleural thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure and increases suspicion of mesothelioma. A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI is usually performed. If a …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Signs and symptoms

Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 30 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity). Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, t …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelium – Role in disease

Mesothelioma (cancer of the mesothelium) is a disease in which cells of the mesothelium become abnormal and divide without control or order. They can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Cancer cells can also metastasize (spread) from their original site to other parts of the body. Most cases of mesothelioma begin in the pleura or peritoneum. It is linked with asbestos exposure and smoking. As mesothelium lacks tight junctions, an ultrastructure that closely links cells together (as seen in epithelia), it is prone to shedding …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Asbestosis – Signs and symptoms

The primary symptom of asbestosis is generally the slow, insidious onset of shortness of breath on exertion. In severe, advanced cases, this may lead to respiratory failure. Coughing is not usually a typical symptom, unless the patient has other, concomitant respiratory tract diseases. People with extensive occupational exposure to the mining, manufacturing, handling or removal of asbestos are at risk of developing asbestosis. There is also an increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma. This risk is related to the total dose of asbesto …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Pathophysiology

The mesothelium consists of a single layer of flattened to cuboidal cells forming the epithelial lining of the serous cavities of the body including the peritoneal, pericardial and pleural cavities. Deposition of asbestos fibres in the parenchyma of the lung may result in the penetration of the visceral pleura from where the fibre can then be carried to the pleural surface, thus leading to the development of malignant mesothelial plaques. The processes leading to the development of peritoneal mesothelioma remain unresolved, although it has b …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Epidemiology

Mesothelioma – Incidence. Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence is approximately one per 1,000,000. For comparison, populations with high levels of smoking can have a lung cancer incidence of over 1,000 per 1,000,000. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past seve …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Legal issues

In the United States, the average mesothelioma-related settlement was $1 million; for cases that go to trial awards averaged $6 million, according to a study by the RAND Corporation. Only a small fraction of the thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits in the United States every year are related to mesothelioma. In 2004, a bill in the United States Senate aimed a asbestos litigation reform failed to reach a floor vote. In January of 2005, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter announced he would again tr …

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – History

An article published by Wagner et al in 1960 first established mesothelioma as a disease arising from exposure to crocidolite asbestos[6]. The article referred to over 30 case studies of people who had suffered from mesothelioma in South Africa. Some exposures were transient and some were mine workers. In 1962 Dr McNulty reported the first diagnosed case of malignant mesothelioma in an Australian asbestos worker

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Mesothelioma – Exposure: Encyclopedia II – Mesothelioma – Treatment

Treatment of MM using conventional therapies has not proved successful and patients have a median survival time of 6 – 12 months after presentation. The clinical behaviour of the malignancy is affected by several factors including the continuous mesothelial surface of the pleural cavity which favours local metastasis via exfoliated cells, invasion to underlying tissue and other organs within the pleural cavity, and the extremely long latency period between asbestos exposure and development of the disease.

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