Mesothelioma – How is it so deadly and How To Avoid it?

It is well known that Mesothelioma is caused due to exposure to asbestos.  However, the manifestations of the disease may not appear for some decades and hence it is not possible to make an early detection of this disease.  If it indeed takes so long to appear, why is it so deadly?
This delay in the disease manifesting itself is a serious concern as you cannot take immediate preventive steps and by the time you actually diagnose the condition, precious time would have been lost.  Very often, individuals exhibiting signs of the disease tend to dismiss it off as bronchitis and hope that the condition would disappear with time.  This leads to a neglect of the symptoms and the patient starts experiencing a lot of breathing problems as the disease progresses.
It is important to catch symptoms of cancer very early to make a definite difference in its treatment and invariably when it is detected at its initial stages, the person makes a quick recovery and is able to lead a healthy life.
The swift manner in which the cancerous cells take root and start spreading within the body is the main reason as to why it is imperative to catch it early and take the necessary medication to nip it in its bud.  The haphazard growth of cancer cells gains momentum especially because they are usually located in proximity to the principal blood supply and other important fluid systems of the body, enabling them to disperse rapidly and form fresh colonies.
That is the reason why mesothelioma can be deadly as the patient is totally unaware of his condition and the fact that there is a deadly disease lurking within his system.  By the time he exhibits symptoms and tries to take corrective action, it is invariably too late as chemotherapy has its limitations and is not able to destroy all the cells.

Mesothelioma – What is it and how is it diagnosed?

Mesothelioma is a very rare kind of cancer that affects the mesothelium, which itself is the protective shield casing most of the body organs. The primary cause of this disease is exposure to asbestos and the most common organ affected is the pleura of the lungs. Though it is generally assumed that smoking which often causes lung cancer may also be causing mesothelioma, it has been proved that smoking has no role to play in the development of mesothelioma.

The symptoms may not be noticed till about 25 to 30 years after the asbestos exposure, but they can be very disturbing. Typical symptoms are accumulation of fluid in the lungs leading to breathing problems, coughing and pain in the chest. Besides pleural mesothelioma, another condition called peritoneal mesothelioma which is a condition affecting the peritoneum can cause abrupt weight loss, anemia and a high level of clotting. If this is not treated on time, it can progress upwards and result in the neck getting swollen apart from the patient experiencing difficulty in swallowing.

It is often difficult to immediately diagnose this cancer as the patient may exhibit symptoms common to other disorders and it does require investigation at the right time to identify mesothelioma. If a patient has had prior exposure to asbestos, specific chest and lung X-rays are taken to identify any pleural thickening that may have occurred. In that event, a CAT scan as well as an MRI is advised to detect any growth tissues in the pleura and if that is also positive, a biopsy is done to ascertain the presence of any cancerous cells in the pleural fluid. As far as peritoneal mesothelioma is concerned, only a laparoscopy can detect any cancerous cells in the abdomen.

Once diagnosis is complete, the examining doctor identifies the stage of cancer and this is again categorized as localized if it is just restricted to the surface of the membrane and advanced if it has managed to make further inroads into the body.