Jul
21
Posted (admin) in Cancer on July-21-2009

In the United States several thousand cases of mesothelioma or asbestos cancer get diagnosed each year. Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer that occurs because of extreme exposure to asbestos which has very harmful fibers that can get inhaled easily and sediment inside the body cavity to settle along the linings of the internal organ and cause long term damage. Mesothelioma is thus also known as asbestos cancer since it stems from the inhaling of asbestos fibers. Though asbestos causes a number of cancers, mesothelioma has been detected as the most commonly caused cancer by asbestos.

Mesothelioma can be pleural, peritoneal, pericardial or testicular in type. In the first the lining of the lungs are affected and this is the most common type of mesothelioma, in the second the lining of the abdomen is affected, in the third the lining of the heart and in the fourth the lining of the testicular or vaginal organs. Sadly the symptoms for mesothelioma surface only years after the individual has been exposed to asbestos and to add to it, the symptoms are nothing unusual for the individual to pay immediate attention. These symptoms are normally associated with commonly experienced illnesses such as shortness of breath, persistent coughing, night sweats and fever, chest pain, fatigue, sudden weight loss etc.

Usually most patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma only after the cancer has developed till its alter stages because the latency period of the disease is unusually long. When mesothelioma is suspected, a number of clinical tests such as X-rays, CT scans, MRI scans and in some cases biopsies are conducted to test the stage of the cancer as well as its chances of healing. Even though there still is no definitive cure to mesothelioma, many individuals choose to adopt treatment in order to make the cancer less painful. Typical options for this cause are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. There are a few experimental procedures like immunotherapy and gene therapies that are being evolved so the effect it has on the individual is more recognized.

Mesothelioma is known to be a result of asbestos exposure. How this asbestos really affects the body is still not definite and research is being conducted to find out more about the same. Asbestos causes damage of permanent stature to the mesothelial cells in the body that include the mesothelial lining of organs like the lungs, heart and abdomen, asbestos fibers damage the functioning of the cells in the body and disrupt normal cell division rate, a reaction between asbestos fibers and the blood causes the permanent damage of the DNA in the cells of the body and several other things that are still being researched upon.

Though mesothelioma is the most popular cancer that stems from exposure to asbestos, asbestos fibers are harmful enough to cause a number of other cancers as well. These would include lung cancer, colorectal cancer, intestinal cancer etc. Thus the only viable solution to prevent one from contracting asbestos fibers in the body which seems to be the cause of so many deadly diseases is to avoid inhaling such fibers from places they are most easily available at.

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