Pleural Mesothelioma - The Facts

Pleural Mesothelioma - The Facts
By Matt Kemp

Pleural Mesothelioma is one of the most intense forms of cancer. It generally attacks the chest’s membrane lining. About three thousand new occurrences each year occur in the US alone. It is now known, as you may also appreciate, that it is caused by coming into contact with Asbestos particles.

Mesothelioma may not necessarily break out immediately. It is not uncommon for it to take 15 years to rear its ugly head, and up to 40 year waits have been recorded. Therefore, most patients diagnosed with this disease are in their sixties or seventies. Because of this long latency period the disease can be in an advanced stage before it is diagnosed correctly. Unfortunately, this leads to the following treatment being less effective.

It is very hard to diagnose pleural mesothelioma because this disease has few distinguishing features at first glance. The alarming indicators are difficulty in swallowing (dysphasia), shortness of breath (dyspnoea), persistent coughing and a tight chest pain. A sore or swollen neck, alongside other indications such as fevers, sweating, hoarseness or over fatigue could (I repeat could) show that the cancer has spread. The movement of blood from the lungs could also show that the disease has spread. In this case those symptoms are mainly caused by a fluid collection in the thoracic area (effusion). It is also possible that the weak pellicle, which is covering the lungs, may fatten and decrease expansion and contraction, therefore making it harder to breathe. Shockingly, in certain circumstances no noticeable signs may show that the cancer has spread until it is out of hand.

To give you some indication of the regularity of the symptoms, 84% of patients have pleural effusions (fluid collection). The major symptoms of the pleural mesothelioma are shortness of breath (88%) and weight loss (28%).