Mesothelioma Cancer: Important Information For Sufferers

Mesothelioma cancer is a type of cancer that strikes the tissues of the mesothelium. The mesothelium is the tissue lining that surrounds various organs, such as the abdomen, heart, reproductive organs, and even the lungs. The lining around the organs in the abdomen is the peritoneal membrane and the lining that is around your lungs is known as the pleural member. The pericardium is the the lining around your heart.

These tissue lining perform various functions: they help to protect your organs, producing fluid that keeps them lubricated, and makes it easy for them to easily move around as well. Mesothelioma cancer affects these membranes and the specific names of the cancers are dependent on the specific tissues that the cancer actually affects.

There is pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma, and pericardial mesothelioma. Usually the most common type of this cancer is pleural mesothelioma, and about 70% of the people dealing with this type of cancer have this specific type. About 10-20% of patients with Mesothelioma have peritoneal problems, and the most rare type of this cancer is the type that affects the pericardium.

There are a variety of symptoms that can signify Mesothelioma, the only problem is that these symptoms are often symptoms that are characteristic of other disease as well. This can make it hard to actually diagnose this type of cancer.

A few of the common symptoms include loss of appetite, weakness, pain in the abdomen, abdominal swelling, nausea, and weight loss. For pleural mesothelioma, some other symptoms to look for include chest pain, problems swallowing, coughing, problems breathing, and low back pain.

Believe it or not, the history of this type of cancer goes all the way back to the early 1900's. However, it took many years for information to be gathered on Mesothelioma so that it could be properly diagnosed and treated.

Late in the 1960's, doctors finally figured that it was asbestos exposure that actually lead to the cancer. The first person to actually confirm that this disease was caused by asbestos exposure was J.C. Wagner, who dealt with more than 30 cases of Mesothelioma cancer.

One of the things that can be so scary about this type of cancer is that it can lay dormant for many years. In fact, sometimes it can go for more than 50 years without showing any type of symptoms of this cancer.

Often however, once the cancer is discovered, most people do not live more than about 1-2 years after they have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma. In some cases, if there is an early diagnosis, radiation, chemotherapy, and even surgery can be used to try and treat the cancer. Also, many people who end up dealing with Mesothelioma are able to recover damages from companies that exposed them to the asbestos leading to their cancer.