Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.  The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health statistics reports that about 2,500 people a year die from mesothelioma in the United States.  In comparison, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports about 3,000 deaths per year from second hand tobacco smoke.  Asbestos in the workplace has been widely recognized as a contributor to higher incidences of mesothelioma cancer by both the doctors and the lawyers.  Symptoms of mesothelioma might not show up for 30 to 50 years from the time of asbestos exposure, making legal cases related to exposure are often hard to prove.  10% of people afflicted with asbestosis will have their disease develop into mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is the name for the cancer of the mesothelium tissue.  The mesothelium tissue is the tissue that lines your lungs, stomach, heart and other organs.  Symptoms include pain in the lower back or side of the chest, shortness of breath, trouble swallowing, cough, fever, sweating, fatigue or weight loss, coughing up blood, muscle weakness and sensory loss.  The greatest risk factor for mesothelioma is, without doubt, asbestos.  Asbestos not only appears in industrial buildings, but also in naturally occurring rock minerals and deposits in the southwestern United States and volcanic ash from overseas.  The risk of lung cancer also increases 7 times for those exposed to asbestos.  Once exposed to asbestos, the risk of mesothelioma does not diminish with time.  Asbestos workers who smoke are 50 to 90 times more likely to get lung cancer.  Other risk factors include thorium dioxide, a cancer-causing agent that used to be used in x-rays, but is no longer used.  Under watch, is whether the he SV40 Virus, a virus that some polio vaccines were infected with between 1955 and 1963, is a risk factor. Government statistics suggest that approximately 7.5 million workers in the United States have been exposed to asbestos, and around 1.3 million construction and maintenance workers are still exposed to this deadly fiber.

Pleural Mesothelioma is the most common form of this type of cancer.  In pleural mesothelioma, tumors grow on the sac that lines the chest cavity and protect the lungs. Researchers have just recently found a molecule that reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, making a pathway to sooner and more accurate diagnosis in the future.  Other forms of mesothelioma are peritoneum, which affects the abdominal cavity lining, and pericardium, which affects the lining around the heart.

As with other cancers, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are typical treatments; however.  Mesothelioma is usually so advanced when diagnosed, pain medication is the focus of the treatment.  Once mesothelioma is diagnosed, survival might last a year or two, depending on individual health circumstances.  Occasionally the gift of life is longer, and new therapies come out regularly claiming their ability to prolong a life.  The average age for diagnosis is 65 and prognosis is poor.  Pemetrexed is a new drug used in treating mesothelioma that almost doubled patient life expectancy.  Mesothelioma might die with time, but only if the use of asbestos is padlocked in the history vaults with other toxins.