Mesothelioma is a cancer
| mesothelioma |
is like many cancers in that the variety of treatment options available changes with the progress of the disease. Catch it early and there are plenty of options to choose from. Catch it in the later stages and the prospects are not so positive. To understand the situation you or a friend who has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma are in, you need to understand the stages of the disease.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that attacks the membranes around the lungs, the heart and the abdominal cavity. Mesothelioma cancer of the lungs is the commonest form. The sadest thing about mesothelioma diagnosis,is that it takes decades after initial exposure to asbestos for the desease to manifest.
This is so because it takes years for the asbestos fibers to find their way into the human membranes. What happens is that, after a long presence, they begin to cause fluid accumulation and tumor development. The early symptoms persistent cough or shortness of breath – symptoms that are often mistaken for evidence of more common lung problems, which delays the mesothelioma diagnosis even further.
In over seventy-five percent of all mesothelioma cases, the cancer develops in the visceral pleura as inhaled asbestos fibers have worked their way through the lung wall and into the outer lining. Over time, the fibers become an irritant and eventually results in the growth of deformed malignant cells. These cells begin to reproduce at an uncontrollable rate. This attack on the mesothelial cells causes pleural effusion,which is a principal symptom of mesothelioma cancer. The malformed cells makes the pleural surfaces to thicken, thus producing an excess of fluid which develops between them.
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