Malignant mesothelioma, a type of asbestos lung cancer, is caused by regular and unprotected exposure to asbestos. After a period of 20 to 50 years (or even more) from the initial exposure people can develop mesothelioma. The average period is between 35 and 40 years and in rare cases the interval was less than 20 years. That is why mesothelioma is most common in men between the ages of sixty and seventy.
The risk rises with the intensity and duration of exposure to asbestos. However, there are cases of people getting mesothelioma 30 or 40 years after a summer job in construction. But most of the people diagnosed were exposed in the Navy many years ago, often unknowingly.
An increased risk of developing mesothelioma affects people who w orked at a shipyard or at an asbestos mine and mill producing asbestos products. Workers in the heating and construction industries, people trading with them and also the friends and family of these workers may develop a mesothelioma injury.
Other people at risk of mesothelioma are those who have had a regular contact with a person who has worked with asbestos, because dust and fibers on its clothes, skin and hair could be ingested by family members.
The organs most affected by mesothelioma are the lungs and the surrounding tissue. Pleural mesothelioma, affecting the lining of the lungs, is the most common. Its symptoms include breathing and swallowing difficulties, coughing, shortness of breath, fever and weight loss. Peritoneal mesothelioma has symptoms like nausea and vomiting, weight loss and loss of appetite, fever, bowel obstruction and pain or swelling of the stomach area. Pericardial mesothelioma that affects the heart and the tissue surrounding has symptoms like palpitations, breathing difficulties, and persistent coughing.
Although there are treatments for mesothelioma, they do not have a high success rate, particularly on mesothelioma patients whose cancer is in its later stages. The faster the mesothelioma is diagnosed and treated, the more chances of success, which is why it is important to get as fast a diagnosis as possible.
However, because the disease takes decades to develop fully and manifest, many mesothelioma patients were oblivious to this until thirty to fifty years later. It is these men who are now lodging million dollar Mesothelioma lawsuit actions against the unscrupulous companies that exposed them to the dangers of asbestos.
Although the effects of asbestos have been observed, tested and verified, this mineral is still used today in many places around the world.
About two thousand new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year. And because reported incidence rates increased in the past twenty years, mesothelioma became a more important public issue. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set certain safe limits for exposure to asbestos.
Mesothelioma Stages
There are three staging systems currently in use for pleural mesothelioma and each one measures somewhat different variables; peritoneal mesothelioma is not staged.
Stage I : Mesothelioma is present in the right or left pleura and may also involve the diaphragm on the same side.
Stage II : Mesothelioma invades the chest wall or involves the esophagus, heart, or pleura on both sides. Lymph nodes in the chest may also be involved.
Stage III : Mesothelioma has penetrated through the diaphragm into the lining of the abdominal cavity or peritoneum. Lymph nodes beyond those in the chest may also be involved.
Stage IV : There is evidence of metastasis or spread through the bloodstream to other organs. ( Butchart System )
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