What is malignant pleural mesothelioma?
Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma is the most common form of mesothelioma that exists, and in its malignant pleural form is the direct result of exposure to asbestos fibres. You can get benign tumours with pleural mesothelioma, but the malignant form is by far the most common. The breathing in of asbestos fibres is what puts those who work unprotected with asbestos at risk, and the risks can be heightened by smoking as well as exposure to this hazardous fibre.

This form of malignant pleural mesothelioma attacks the lungs and respiratory areas of the body. The mesothelioma cancer attacks the cells and the lining (known as the pleura) of the lungs and ribs. As with other forms of pleural mesothelioma, the symptoms can take twenty or thirty years (sometimes longer) to present themselves following exposure to asbestos, making it impossible for people to realise that they have been affected until it is too late.

There are a number of symptoms for malignant pleural mesothelioma, and like peritoneal mesothelioma, they can appear very non-specific and could be put down to a number of common diseases or illnesses. The long latency period associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma is already the cause of much delay, but the type of symptoms associated with this disease can cause even further delay, even when the onset begins. Without prior knowledge that you have worked with asbestos and are therefore a high risk patient where malignant pleural mesothelioma is concerned, your doctor could end up testing for a wide range of other diseases such as pneumonia.

This wastes much needed time, and it is therefore vital that you not only keep your eyes open for any of the associated mesothelioma symptoms but also inform your doctor of your past history of working with asbestos. Armed with this information, the doctor can then start running appropriate tests should the symptoms manifest.

Some of the symptoms that are commonly associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma include: persistent coughing; difficulty swallowing; facial swelling; weight loss; fever; rasping; and coughing up blood. Some patients may also experience shortness of breath, whether they are being active or even when they are resting. This can be caused by the thickening of the pleura due to the spread of the tumour. The thicker the pleura gets, the less space the lungs have to function properly, hence breathing begins to be affected.

Some patients may also experience severe pain in the chest or ribs, and this is caused by the spread of the cancerous cells and the tumour. Should the tumour start to spread outwards, it will affect the chest area as well as the lungs.

Treating malignant pleural mesothelioma is dependant on many things, and it is the doctor that will normally suggest the recommended course of treatment based upon his knowledge and the findings from his diagnostic tests. Factors such as the patient’s age, medical history, general well being, and even weight, are taken into account. Other factors that have to be considered include: how far the cancer has spread; and where the cancer is.

The treatments for the different types of pleural mesothelioma are more or less the same in most cases, but obviously they are targeted towards different areas of the body depending upon which area has been affected by the cancer.

These treatments include:

Surgery: This may entail moving part or all of a lung and some of the surrounding tissue in order to remove the tumour and cancerous cells. It may also be necessary to drain the lungs of fluid, simply to make the patient more comfortable. The extent of surgery will depend largely upon the extent to which the cancer has spread.

Chemotherapy: For this procedure, drugs are used to fight the cancerous cells and kill them as well as shrink the tumour. These drugs can be swallowed by mouth if they are in tablet form, or the doctor may administer them needle directly into a vein or muscle. The drugs are then able to travel through the body via the blood stream and kill off any cancer cells that they come across.

Radiation Therapy: This is where high energy x-rays are used either outside the body (external radiation) or directed to the source internally (internal radiation) to shrink the tumour and kills off cancer cells. Internal radiation is preformed through the use of plastic tubing, where the doctor can also administer drugs.

Mesothelioma information source: www.mesolink.org

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