Pleural Mesothelioma And Its Symptoms
Inhaling asbestos filled air for longer durations result in a kind of cancer, which is called Mesothelioma. It is mainly classified into three categories. The most common among these is pleural mesothelioma and it is responsible for majority of the cases reported. In pleural mesothelioma, the protective membrane of our internal organs called mesothelium gets covered with the malicious loose asbestos fibers. This gradually damages the cells and affects its functioning. Mainly this type of cancer affects pleura, the protective lining around lungs and internal chest wall.
The pleura consist of parietal and visceral pleura. While the former covers the chest wall, the latter sheaths the lungs. A fluid between these two linings allows easy expansion and contraction of lungs. The inhaled asbestos gets into the minute passages of the lungs and later enters the pleura. A chemical reaction, which is still unknown to the medical world, takes place, which results in formation of cancerous cells. Cells start dividing unnaturally resulting in the pleural lining becoming thicker and accumulation of excess fluid. The thickening of pleura reduces breathing process, thereby causing breathlessness.
Difficulty in breathing is of course the first symptom. This is followed by chest pain, loss weight and night sweats. What makes the disease dangerous is that the first symptoms may appear only many years after he was exposed to asbestos particles. The more number of years a person is exposed to asbestos, the seriousness of the disease will be more. The physicians may wrongly diagnose the disease making the condition fatal. The best thing to do is that if a person with a history of working with asbestos has any of these symptoms, he should immediately seek the help of a mesothelioma doctor.
There are traditional treatment methods like radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery available for the disease like pleural mesothelioma. But these methods are not completely successful. The five different surgical treatment followed is intra-operative photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy and gene therapy.
Chemotherapy is the widely accepted medicated treatment, while radiation therapy uses high energy gamma rays, X-rays or neutrons. Other therapies for the disease are intra-operative photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy and gene therapy. Above all the will power of the patient and the level of infection determine the success of treatment.
