Saturday, September 21, 2013

What is Mesothelioma?

There are a lot of forms of cancer known to Human kind. One of the types of cancer that have been seen to be on the rise lately is the Mesothelioma. But very few have the knowledge regarding this deadly cancer. Over 2000 people die each year because of Mesothelioma. So, what is mesothelioma? Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer develops from cells which come from the mesothelium, which is the protective lining which normally covers most of your internal organs. This is a very uncommon disease.


This form cancer develops in a lot of areas and different part of the bodies, but they also some common places where the disease seem to affect often. The most common places that are affected by Mesothelioma are the outer lining of the lungs (pleura), the outer linings of the abdominal cavity (peritoneum), the outer linings of the heart (pericardium) and lastly the tunica vaginalis which is the sac that surround the testicles. This cancer is also known to have a faster growth rate that most other forms of cancer. Mesothelioma was first recognized as a tumor that affected the pleura, pericardium and the peritoneum in the late 1700’s.


It was not until the 1960 that the Mesothelioma was given a more proper description in full detail about how it was directly linked with working with asbestos. The first ever linking to mesothelioma with asbestos was a case of where 32 workers in “asbestos hills” South Africa in a report written by J.C. Wagner. Mesothelioma is normally seen to affect men of over 50 years of age, but it also affect women and children in their early age. Most of the patients who are affected with mesothelioma have been seen to be working near a plant station or a mine where there were asbestos present and in a huge amount. Also, even though this disease has nothing to do with tobacco smoking, the usage of tobacco has seen to increase the growth rate of these tumors. People affected by Mesothelioma has been seen to have a number of symptoms. Among them are simple symptoms like weight, problems with bowel movement, and dry coughing. And there are the worse symptoms like coughing up blood, abdominal swelling, and pain all over the body, Horner’s syndrome and pleural effusion.



 Mesothelioma is a malignant cancer that has a latency period of over 40 to 50 years. The form of cancer is also very hard to spot, difficult to diagnose. Mesothelioma is also very irresponsive to the therapy making it quite a dangerous form of cancer. It is one of the deadliest disease known to mankind where the average life span of an inflicted person from the time diagnosis to death is roughly about 24 months. Those who are prone to being affected by this disease have been see to work in factories, shipyards, mines, pipefitters, steel workers and many other sort of profession. Even the US military are susceptible to being affected by this deadly disease and also engineers.


You might be working hard, earning money for your family, but little do you know that you are slowly killing yourselves. Mesothelioma kills and there is not much you can do about it. If you have gotten mesothelioma due to over exposure to asbestos then it is highly recommended to contact a Mesothelioma Lawyer who will see to it that you get the financial compensation you are entitled to get form your employee’s, which will ensure a good and better life of your family after you have passed away.