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.

History of Mesothelioma

The onset of the 20^th century saw hectic building activity at construction sites, ship yards, rail yards. Asbestos fibers were used as a major component and its production was also stepped up to meet the ever increasing demand. Mankind got exposed to asbestos in its early years of development and very soon, incidents of lung cancer also came to be reported. However, the condition of mesothelioma is believed to have its origins at places where wastes from mine extraction containing a lot of asbestos fibers were used as dumping material to envelop playgrounds and other open spaces. It was around this time that people who had practically no chance of getting exposed to asbestos fibers started developing symptoms of this disease. Though many officials were aware of the potential dangerous effects of asbestos mining much earlier, the activity continued and was formally brought to a close only in 1966.

During those times, mines were permitted to operate without basic safeguards and the concept of hygienic and safe work practices were relatively unknown. Due to this lack of adequate safety nets, many workmen began experiencing symptoms of mesothelioma on a yearly basis. What was more worrying was the fact that many cases that were diagnosed were of people who got it through the secondary route, having not been exposed to asbestos directly.

Mesothelioma saw its first case at an Australian mine and that worker had been working in that mine for about three years. Things then began to deteriorate rapidly as people inhabiting the town where asbestos mining was being carried out started exhibiting symptoms and this continued well into the 1970s, when the Australian Government took a long pending decision to shut it down. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and many people had fallen prey to this dangerous disease.

The tragedy just highlights the fact that if proper safeguards in the working environment had been implemented at that time, history would have had a different story to tell.